Welch defies all odds after lightning strike
By Hollie Smith
IV Leader Staff, Sept. 11, 2003
The odds of a person being hit by lightning in their lifetime are 1 in 400,000; however, on July 8, IVCC student Patrick Welch was struck on campus while walking toward his car after a class.
Welch not only defied the odds on that day, he has continued to defy the odds by making a remarkable recovery. Hospitalized since the incident, Welch is due home, in Streator, Sept. 30.
His mother, Lori, was very positive.
“Patrick is up and walking with a walker,” she said. “Doctors are confident he’ll be walking by Sept. 30. He talks sometimes and eats a little.”
She said he should show even more improvement after his tracheotomy tube is removed soon. He has been receiving about five hours of physical therapy a day at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
His mother said he would love to receive mail, which can be sent to him at the Rehabilitation Institute, 245 E. Superior, Chicago, IL 60611.
When lightning struck the 18-year-old criminal justice student at about 12:30 p.m., a student witness reported Welch’s injury to safety services. Welch was on the asphalt walk between the main and the east campus.
He was unresponsive when a team of First Responders reached him, within minutes of the strike. They immediately began CPR.
He was taken by ambulance to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru, transferred to OSF St. Francis in Peoria and then to the Memorial Medical Center in Springfield. He was moved to the rehabilitation center in late August.
Members of Welch’s family have commended IVCCs First Responder unit for saving his life.