A lightning strike fried her nerves and melted her skin – the damage will last years

The 950 million volts fried Amber Escudero-Kontostathis’s nerves, melted her skin and stopped her heart. But the lone survivor tells herself, ‘I’m the lucky one’, writes William Wan

Amber Escudero-Kontostathis shows a scar from being struck by lightning last August, at her home in Washington on 10 March (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The Washington Post)

She wakes up, like most mornings, in pain.

As Amber Escudero-Kontostathis lies in bed, it feels like someone is taking a razor-thin scalpel and delicately slicing into her legs.

The 28-year-old fundraiser eases into her fuzzy black-and-white slippers to get ready for a doctor’s appointment, and with each step, her feet feel like giant blisters threatening to pop under pressure.