Boy struck by lightning is given replica of Mighty Thor’s hammer by Florida rescuers
A boy who survived a lightning strike was discharged from a Florida hospital this week holding a replica of Mighty Thor’s hammer.
The symbolic gift — Thor is the Norse God of Thunder — was presented to 11-year-old Levi Stock by the same Hillsborough County deputies who responded to the initial call in Riverview, southeast of Tampa.
Photos posted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office show the “strong kiddo” was wielding the hammer from his hospital bed Monday, July 4. He was discharged later that day, according to his father, Derek Stock.
The incident happened just days before the July 8 release of the movie “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which is likely how deputies were able to find a mythological hammer in stores.
“I was there with deputies and he (Levi) got a big smile. He thought it was really cool,” Derek Stock told McClatchy News. “It’s in his hands now. ... We were just talking about how we may have to go see (the movie).”
The strike happened June 30 as the family was rushing back to shore on a fishing boat ahead of an approaching storm, Derek Stock wrote on Facebook. Levi was on the deck when lightning “went through his tailbone and out his foot through the deck and melted some of his hair,” his father says.
“We were 100 ft from the ramp when he was struck and keeled over the boat. I dove in to get him as he was sinking and I kept his head above water,” Stock wrote on Facebook.
“Our Ranger was smoking and non operable and drifted away from me. Another boat came over and pulled me and him up. I did CPR immediately on boat until shore and medics came. He was still in cardiac arrest on way to hospital.”
Photos of the boy’s injuries were shared on Facebook. Derek Stock says his son does not remember the moment he was struck or what it felt like.
However, Derek Stock said he believes the hammer will serve as “a reminder of the incident and God’s grace that he is still alive.”
This story was originally published July 5, 2022 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Boy struck by lightning is given replica of Mighty Thor’s hammer by Florida rescuers."