Man survives being struck by lightning

The odds of getting struck by lightning in the U.S are rare.

However, one Nampa, Idaho, man was caught in the situation over Memorial Day Weekend and he survived it.

Ryan Cross, 34, had bleeding in his brain and was in Saint Alphonsus' Intensive Care Unit on May 24. According to his wife, he is now alert, eating and has had the chance to walk around a bit.

Heather Cross got a call from the emergency room over the weekend. So she packed up her two kids to be by her husband's side.

"I really just tried to stay strong," said Heather Cross. "The drive from Nampa to here (Boise) was the longest drive of my life. I didn't know what I was going to walk into."

Ryan spent the weekend with friends near Idaho City camping, riding four-wheelers and dirt bikes.

"They were riding, and it started raining and then all of a sudden it started hailing pretty heavily so they stopped," Heather Cross said. "Ryan got off his four-wheeler and went under a tree to protect himself from the hail, leaned up against a tree, was looking at a map on his phone, and that is when it all happened."

She said the men got caught in the storm and were looking for a way back out of the woods.

After a brief moment of unconsciousness, one of the men ran down the road to find help, Heather said he met up with some people in an SUV and used "OnStar" to get help.

"That helped save his life," Heather Cross said.

From pictures shared with KTVB-TV, Ryan is seen in his hospital bed with what appears to be a red streak down the front of his chest from the lightning.

"Storms grow quickly and come on you quickly in the mountains," said KTVB-TV Meteorologist Larry Gebert.

As he explains, sometimes electrical energy is already brewing in the air even before you see lightning or hear thunder.

"The best thing to do in a storm, when you have no protection is to be the smallest thing out there," Gebert said.

He advises to move to shelter if you can. If not get down low and ride out the storm, protecting yourself from the rain and hail as best you can.

In Ryan's case, the lightning was so powerful, it shredded the gear he was wearing.

"It's something that I will never say again, it will never happen to me," Heather Cross said. "You know you just take storms for granted."

Heather Cross said the doctors don't know Ryan's long-term health impacts from the lightning strike right now.