Caitlin Van Mol 0:00 You tell me about buddy? How did he come into your life?

Bryon 0:10 My daughter gave him to me. We had gone to a relative's house, and they had a golden retriever, and I was petting the dog, and I had one when I was a little kid. When I was about 10, I had a golden retriever for 10 years, and I just said something like, reminds me of my childhood or something. And about six months later, my daughter showed up with this golden retriever pup. She said she bought him in Idaho for $50

Caitlin Van Mol 0:38 $50 for a golden retriever. Yeah, that's real cheap. Brian and Buddy became attached at the hip, even when Brian was hunting. Did you always bring buddy along on your trips?

Bryon 0:51 Yeah, I took him just about where I went. Oh, he's my accountant partner, and if I'm driving around looking for deer, you know, it's fun to have a partner with Buddy, my buddy,

Caitlin Van Mol 1:06 my buddy. What was his like? Normal demeanor? Just always

Bryon 1:10 calm and playful. Loved balls. He always had a ball. And I could go to the middle of nowhere. And if there was a ball there, that dog found it. Where did you find a ball? Yeah, this is great. In

Caitlin Van Mol 1:28 August of 2015 Brian was on a trip in his motor home, just a man and his dog

Bryon 1:36 got down. I was going bow hunting, and I got there the day before, I was having some trouble with my motor home. It was

Caitlin Van Mol 1:44 vapor locking. What is vapor? Vapor locking?

Bryon 1:48 I guess it would describe a bit like the fuel is kind of boiling before it goes into the engine, so it makes it chug and cough and lacks power. Okay, you know, I was messing around with that motorhome a little bit, and it was real hot. I was gonna go hunting that afternoon.

Caitlin Van Mol 2:06 Where was this exactly? It was Southern

Bryon 2:09 Utah, on highway 89 was down a little town called hatch. I took my dog up the highway weighs there's a creek that comes out and goes under the highway, and it's called AC Crick, and it runs for a ways down the highway. And the top of this hill, there was a turnout area, a pretty good sized pull off area, and it was a gate with the fence line that went and would access you down, and then it cut down the bottom, and you could drive right down to the creek. So I took my dog down there to let him swim and cool off, and I just grabbed a fishing pole and threw in here and there, you know, see if I catch any fish. But the day wasn't, it wasn't raining or stormy, real bad or anything. There was quite a few puffy clouds with dark bottoms, but there was a lot of sunshine too. Yeah, I could hear a big storm, you know, miles away, long, long ways away. It was probably clear down like Zion National Park somewhere through there. Unfortunately

Caitlin Van Mol 3:20 for Brian, the storm was closer than he thought. This is lived to tell the podcast where I talk to some of the bravest people who have been through the most horrifying things and lived to tell the tale. I'm Caitlin Van Mol Caitlin,

Bryon 3:43 yeah, and I could hear the rumble, but it was a long, long ways off, and it sprinkled just a little bit on me while I was there with the dog, but nothing to really get you wet or Yeah, you know, make you run for cover. And after I let the dog swim and cool off, you know, jumped in the jeep and started to drive out. I looked at my watch. I looked at the time. It was like 234

Caitlin Van Mol 4:05 Brian drove through the gate and had to get out of his Jeep to close it again.

Bryon 4:09 I was getting out to close the gate, and I still had a hold of the door. I had my it was CJ five Jeep with a soft top, and I had the windows off the doors, so all I had was just a half door, and I just got both feet on the ground. I still had my hand on the door, and I was facing the Jeep inside, and I seen the flash inside the Jeep on, you know, the reflection of the flash aligning on the dashboard and stuff, and at the same time, I felt like I got clubbed on the back of the head. And, I mean, it was just powerful. It just like pushed me to the ground. And I I cannot say if. Was immediately knocked out. I don't, I kind of think I wasn't. I think, you know, I just went down my first initial when I seen that flash and the felt the hit for a second. I thought somebody came back behind me and clubbed me. In

Caitlin Van Mol 5:16 fact, Brian had been struck by lightning.

Bryon 5:21 Once I got I was on the ground. I was laying over my arms, you know, my I was on top of my head. Pull my arms out from under me, and I was just so weak. I had no body function. I'll never get my arms out and get to where I could lay my head on my arms, on my forearms, laying on my belly, I just remember thinking I got hit by lining and then I just passed out, and then I woke up, and I was wondering what the hell happened to me, and I was kind of confused. And I tried to yell for help, and I couldn't I couldn't even yell. I had just barely could get the words out.

Caitlin Van Mol 6:05 The paralysis Brian was experiencing is called corona paralysis, the loss of limb function after a lightning strike. And

Bryon 6:15 I was so close to the highway, I was probably maybe 100 feet from the highway, but I was in a place where the brush was high and there was a downhill on the highway, so car might be able to see my G if they were going the right direction, but they probably wouldn't see me on the ground. And I thought I could crawl, and I only thing I was able to do is bend my right knee a little bit, and that was as far as I got. And so I tried to yell for help, and then I just passed back out and I could I was just like, paralyzed, like, and the pain was just intense.

Caitlin Van Mol 6:57 This paralysis gave Brian a feeling of helplessness that he had never experienced before.

Bryon 7:05 It was hard as I've never been in that kind of situation that I couldn't do something, you know, I've had times when my back has, you know, slipped out or whatever, and got, you know, that pain down my legs trying hard to walk, and I've been able to get myself back home, you know, fighting through the pain and pushing in the clutch and being able to drive and stuff, but there was just no it was absolutely nothing I could do to help myself.

Caitlin Van Mol 7:33 Did you think you were gonna die at any point? Ah,

Bryon 7:38 laying there. Yeah, I guess I probably did, you know, and all wonder if it was done, I just because I couldn't I couldn't move, I couldn't go. I never been in that situation, you know, I've had broken bones and stuff and be able to get myself back, but there was nothing I could do to help myself at all if I'd have been in a different position, place, if I'd have been down that hill, nobody would have ever found me. You know, it could have been days or weeks. Can

Caitlin Van Mol 8:10 you describe the pain? Was it just on your head? Was it all

Bryon 8:14 the three everywhere, my bones, my joints, felt like every joint hurt, every joint was just aching. I had dislocated a hip and fractured two vertebras and broke my foot in a motocross crash, and that was the worst pain I've ever experienced, and you could multiply that to reach this pain of lightning. I mean, it got to the point that my body just like, shut off. I mean, I still hurt, but it was like, I somehow was blocking it, yeah, and then I would pass out again, and probably pass out from the pain. I don't know. The third time I woke up, I was playing there, and I was like, dreaming, and I was above myself. I was looking down and seeing myself laying there on the ground. My jeep was there, and I was laying on the ground by my jeep. Do

Caitlin Van Mol 9:13 you think that was the dream? Or do you feel like that was you like, dying?

Bryon 9:18 I can't tell you either way. I just, it was, it was like a dream looking down. You know, I was just, I just had that view. And then my dog started licking my face like crazy. And I woke up. The dog woke me up, licking me. He never licked me. He He would give you one little, tiny lick, and that was it. He never, you know, really looked at your face crazily, yeah, uh, one doctor that I had talked to months afterwards, you know, I told him the story, and he says, well, that dog saved your life. He says, The with that dog licking your face, it gave you that stimulation to keep you there. So when I woke up then, and he was just right there under the Jeep, and was right against me, you know, I lifted my head up, and all I could see was his hair of his chest, and I said, buddy, I need help. And I laid back down, and I woke up again, and I was on my back, and I could see somebody's legs, and somebody said to me, says, hang in there. There's an ambulance on its way I talk or anything I kind of like couldn't then the next thing I remembered is the sheriff showed up. So this Sheriff asked me if I could give him a number, phone number to call or anything. And so I gave him my home phone number, and he called. He didn't get anybody, and he left a message, and the ambulance showed up, and they started cutting off my clothes. My socks were burnt, so they just fell open, just sliced in the same path as the lightning burned on my feet, wild. They didn't even cut my socks. Their socks just fell already cut. They're already cut. And I don't remember getting x rayed, but they x rayed me to see if I had broken bones and stuff. And after I got x rayed, to the X ray tech, he come walking in to me, and he pointed at me, and he says, I know you. And I looked at him, and I thought for a second. I go, Yeah, I remember we went hunting one time and you had a blue Chevy pickup. But I couldn't remember his name, wow. And he says, yeah. And then he told me his name, and it's, oh yeah, okay, small world. And then after that, I started to come out of it a little bit, you know, things, my mind started working a little better, and stuff, and and then the pain started just coming back more and more and more. And they gave me, you know, a lot of drugs for the pain, but it just didn't help. I guess it helped, but I just couldn't take it. It got pretty bad.

Caitlin Van Mol 12:07 Meanwhile, Brian's wife finally got the message about what happened. So the phone call that the sheriff made to your house. Do you know who heard that first?

Bryon 12:21 Oh, my wife, I was married then,

Caitlin Van Mol 12:24 and how did she react to that news?

Bryon 12:27 I don't know. I think I remember saying something that she, you know, once she heard that I was hit in the head, like she was wondering if there was brains coming out or something. I don't know. I mean, kind of overreacting. I guess

Caitlin Van Mol 12:41 that. I think I would ask that too well, I would ask, Is he alive or dead? But I talked

Bryon 12:46 to her while I was at the hospital, and just told her that all my all my joints hurt, and it was like all the air around me hurt. It hurt everywhere I can. I can't think any place it didn't hurt,

Caitlin Van Mol 13:03 but you had all your brains. Yeah, while the pain was top of mind for Brian, the doctors were very concerned about what the lightning strike did to his organs.

Bryon 13:15 The doctor that was on call that day over there, he came in and he was friends with Brady, the X ray tech, and I had met him before too, because they were hunting together, you know, when I was hunting. So he came in and but he told me that i My heart was had some really crazy numbers, and he would figure that I had a heart attack, but knowing that I was hit by lightning, he knows that's the reason for the crazy numbers. And he said, your kidney numbers are completely off the charts. They drugged me. And he says, we're just gonna try and keep you comfortable for a while. Life flights on its way, and we're gonna send to the University of Utah burden center. So while I'm waiting, it just the pain was just growing and growing. It's like the more I woke up, the more I hurt, and I just started to cry. I couldn't stop crying at her so bad. Yeah, and a nurse came in and held my hand and tried to comfort me, and she told me that she'll see if they can get a shot or something that helps to help. And so they gave me a shot of down roll, I think. And then I kind of fell asleep and drifted in and out.

Caitlin Van Mol 14:35 We'll be right back.

Caitlin Van Mol 14:42 Brian, was flown to the University of Utah Burn Center, though, surprisingly, most of his skin was fine. Were the doctors surprised? You lived a couple

Bryon 14:54 of them? Yeah, one told me that I was lucky. He that I was sweaty. He said the that made it go around the outside, more than taking all of it through the internals of my body, and which that kind of showed with my singed hair, you know, yeah, no open wounds except my foot,

Caitlin Van Mol 15:20 for even your head?

Bryon 15:22 Well, I had a little bit of a spot on top of my head, and then it burned a little track down the back of my hair, back of my head, all my body hair was singed down my arm. Over here, my arm was it swirled in knots, hurt. My left foot was opened up like a 38 wide trench down from my above my ankle to my little toe, and my boot had one hole in it coming out to look by the little toe my left foot, I had two exits out my boot, one by the ankle and one by the little toe, and I had the same marking, but on my right foot there wasn't an open Visual wound. It showed up like a day later, started going black, and then the next day it was even more black.

Caitlin Van Mol 16:15 Yeah. Why do you know why it was black? I

Bryon 16:19 guess just killed, you know, the skin or something.

Caitlin Van Mol 16:24 How long did it take to go back to normal? A couple

Bryon 16:27 months. It just, it just had a progressive darkness that came to it, and then just looked all dead, and then it just started coming back. And the the wound started healing up and scarring in and my foot just started getting colored back and looking right. I had a bad enough burn on my ankle that I had to do some therapy and, you know, stretch it so I'd get my full mobility back in my ankle.

Caitlin Van Mol 16:55 I just think of like stretching the skin. Yeah,

Bryon 17:02 stretching that new tissue, it was ugly how that foot land, it went just darker and darker, and it just looked like a dead foot. Since

Caitlin Van Mol 17:14 Brian was in and out of consciousness as they took him to the hospital, he was unable to make arrangements for his car, and, more importantly, buddy, so you go to the hospital, obviously you're not able to take care of your dog, who right?

Bryon 17:30 What happened? So I don't know exactly what they did with him at first, but apparently the tow truck came and took my jeep and the tow truck company took a buddy. So when I was at the hospital, I the guy that I knew, Brady, the hunting buddy slash x ray Tech, I asked him if he could be able to get my jeep and take care of my dog, because my dog was left there, and he says, Yeah, I'll, I'll take care of it. I think they took the dog to the pounds, and then Brady had to go to the pound and get the dog, but, but he had him on my.my daughter went and got my cell phone out of my motor home and broke into it. And then she, uh, she stopped at Brady's house and got the dog. Yeah, you told me that. When she got the dog and they were leaving, she's walking with Buddy was with her, and then buddy left and went back over to Brady and licked his hand, and then came back. So he was a, he was a pretty special dog. I mean, they did things that just blew my mind. Sometimes. Brian

Caitlin Van Mol 18:43 was released from the hospital after five days, but it took much longer to get his strength back. What was trying to walk for the first time, like, it's

Bryon 18:55 pretty slow. I used a walker, and my balance wasn't good, and I didn't have a lot of strength.

Caitlin Van Mol 19:05 When did you start to get your strength back to normal, normal or relatively so,

Bryon 19:11 it was months. It was it was probably four, at least four months before I was really kind of mol. I slept a lot. I mean, I would sleep. I still do. It's, it's kind of stuck me with sleeping like it seems like I need 10 hours of sleep. I my daughter is a nurse practitioner, and she went to school with a girl that went into pharmaceutical stuff, and they were developing a nerve drug was called pre alt. So they were talking, and the girl suggested that I get this pre alt injected into my spinal fluid. She said it would help me a ton with my nerve recovery and stuff. Couldn't give my insurance to do anything. With it, and it was still experimental, and the gal actually comped the drug for me. And so I was having a hard time on stairs. I had to use a handrail, and it was an effort to go up and down stairs. And just by within a couple days, maybe even the first day, even I felt better, but within two days, I was able to go up and down stairs without grabbing the handrail. It was that much of an improvement.

Caitlin Van Mol 20:32 Do you know how much the drug would have cost if they didn't comp it?

Bryon 20:36 I think said that little vial was like $5,000

Caitlin Van Mol 20:40 Wow. But even with that injection, he was still in a lot of pain. When did that consistent pain stop?

Bryon 20:52 It was probably a year before, you know, I took pain pills. I took the maximum dose of Dilaudid. For a long time. One doctor looked at me like I was crazy. I was taking that much and and he says that if someone took that, you know, just for the first time, took that much of a dosage, he said it would stop their heart and die. It was a handful. It was like I was eating two hands full of pills every day.

Caitlin Van Mol 21:21 Yeah, what was it like to come off of that much Dilaudid,

Bryon 21:25 it was fine. I did, you know, on my own, before they told me to, I just started taking a little less every couple days and break a pill in half, and just kept working down with it, having issues with it at all.

Caitlin Van Mol 21:39 Brian was, and still is a power plant mechanic. How long was it before you were able to return to work?

Bryon 21:50 It was about six months, and I was still kind of not totally ready yet, but my job position, they would have, they only guaranteed it for six months, and I never talked to anyone, so when the six months came back around, I tried to get back to work, and my got to work, they told me, Well, you should just do more time. You could have. We would have held it for you. Wish you could call this, you know, but that was a rule that they'll hold it for for six months. What

Caitlin Van Mol 22:22 was your first day back at work? Like it

Bryon 22:26 was all right? I know a lot of questions from everybody. There's a little guy that used to be the symbol for the power plant, called for Utah Power and Light. It was a ready kilowatt man, and he was made out of electricity, like bolts of electricity. So there was a few little posters of him with my head.

Caitlin Van Mol 22:54 That's cute. Yeah,

Bryon 22:56 some people thought it was offensive, but I didn't take it that way. I normally worked rotation, 12 hour shifts, but when I got to work, I they asked me if I wanted to just be on day shift for a while, for just eight hour days. So I stayed on day shift for about two months. I think then I could still do my therapy and stuff, you know,

Caitlin Van Mol 23:19 yeah, after war during those six months, you weren't being paid, correct?

Bryon 23:24 I was being paid with our union job. So okay, and we had some union benefits that paid for probably a third of the wage,

Caitlin Van Mol 23:36 as Brian would come to find out, the after effects of a lightning strike aren't just physical.

Bryon 23:44 They told me that I would that it's really common for depression with lightning strike victims, and I do have some issues there. Okay, I can't say whether it's related to it or not. I don't know. I mean, I, I kind of was a little depressed when I got hit by lane, actually, but I, I can't really say sometimes I can get, like, really lot of anxiety and not be able to sleep. Yeah, yeah. The past year has been pretty bad, or no sleep for the entire night, and just get up and pace around and go for a walk and come back and try to sleep again. Yeah, I've been getting some drugs now to help with it, and again, getting somewhere with it. Now, what,

Caitlin Van Mol 24:40 finally made you see a psychiatrist, you know,

Bryon 24:45 going all night without sleeping for a couple days, you know, and then you finally be able to sleep a little bit during the day. I just couldn't take it. And yeah, I called in sick one time, just telling you i. Didn't sleep all night long. I'm not coming in, yeah.

Caitlin Van Mol 25:02 And especially if you're working with machines, can be dangerous,

Bryon 25:08 yeah? And then there's sometimes you got to work on scaffolding and climb ladders. And, you know, yeah, normal ladders straight up and down scaffold ladders, you know? So you don't have that little bit of an angle to it. It's just straight.

Caitlin Van Mol 25:23 Did you ever see a therapist? Yeah,

Bryon 25:27 that was part of my recovery. They sent me to a plank, a pain clinic, which is part of the University of Utah. So I went to the pain management there, and there was a psychologist, so I still go and see him a little bit. Do

Caitlin Van Mol 25:41 you mind if I ask? I mean, you don't have to answer. You don't have to answer anything, I ask you, but what sort of things do you talk about with your psychologist?

Bryon 25:49 Oh, just life, things, just, you know, daily struggles of life and how to deal with it a little bit. The main thing is, it's just having somebody to talk to. You know, I got divorced about five years ago. Well, that's been five years ago. So loneliness and stuff, you know, being alone in a big house, I got two dogs been there, a golden retriever and a mix Labrador German, short hair, so I have company with the dogs, but

Caitlin Van Mol 26:26 yeah, but it's not the same, yeah, yeah. Do you have friends that you talk to at all?

Bryon 26:33 I just like to bother people. I feel like I'm a pain in the butt if I bug somebody with my problems.

Caitlin Van Mol 26:43 But wouldn't you listen to one of your friends talk about their problems?

Bryon 26:48 Yes, it would. So

Caitlin Van Mol 26:54 I get it. Yeah, I feel that way too. A lot of like people have their own stuff going on. I don't want to make it all about me, but yeah, as they say, That's what friends are for.

Bryon 27:08 Yeah, you're right.

Caitlin Van Mol 27:10 After all the pain the lightning strike put him through, you'd think Brian would hate storms, but I

Bryon 27:18 like to kind of go for a walk in the soft rainstorm. You know want this is not drenching you if it's to sprinkle or something, and I don't, I don't rest for the house. If I'm hearing thunder and I'm more scared of it, I guess I'd say I respect him more. But I got I don't just panic and run inside. One time I was at work, and we got off work, and bunch of the guys I work with on my crew, they were out there in parking lot, like four of them grouped around, kind of talking, near, pretty close where I was parked, and there were quite a few little it was almost like the same kind of day, lot of little clouds with some dark bottoms, and it was little bit of rumbling and thunder. And I walked over to him and looked up at the sky, didn't say anything, and they all took off, got in a car as well. So I think it's more scared of it than I am. Well, a healthy I mean, I definitely don't ever want to have it happen again. I'm not gonna go walking around in a a winding storm. I'm staying inside. Yeah, I've had some people tell me I got struck by lightning one time, and you did and he Yeah, I was sitting here and whining, hit this. And I'm like, Well, I think if lightning hit you directly, hit you, it's left a mark,

Caitlin Van Mol 28:43 yeah? So yeah, it's much less severe. If it's like, yeah, if

Bryon 28:47 it hits something that you're Yeah, and then jumps and, like, one guy said he was on the steps of his camp trailer, and he hit the camp trailer, and I'm like, well, it didn't hit you. It had a path. You know, I don't say, I don't say anything. That's just my thought

Caitlin Van Mol 29:02 you're not as cool as I am.

Bryon 29:06 Well, I just know the pain, you know? Yeah, it's like, if you didn't go to the hospital, you didn't get hit by lightning, right? I mean, that's just, that's just it

Caitlin Van Mol 29:17 period, like stolen lightning, valor. I did a lot of

Bryon 29:21 searching on my computer, you know, about widening and stuff, and it's crazy. It can a lightning bolt can travel 10 miles, and the voltage is, you know, they're not able to really measure it accurately, but they estimate it to be 50,000 to over a million Volts of DC current. I

Caitlin Van Mol 29:43 don't know what like a normal or what's so like, what's a regular amount of volts? So

Bryon 29:50 a good example would be a spark plug for a car, a spark plug has about 20,000 18,000 volts. Okay? Okay,

Caitlin Van Mol 30:00 and how many does the lightning have? 50,000 to over a million. The lightning strike happened in 2015 and Buddy was already 12 years old.

Bryon 30:11 No, I had him, No, about two and a half years longer. He was about 14 and a half and you die. Yeah, took a long life. It's always so heartbreaking. You know, with a dog, it's almost like you don't want to get another one, but you get so much pleasure out of them. And yeah, you know, unconditional love, you just you pay for it all at once, you know,

Caitlin Van Mol 30:43 yeah, to this day, Brian still doesn't know exactly who found him

Bryon 30:49 after I, you know, got recovered a bit and was able to drive and stuff. I went back down there. I know a guy that he's a judge and he's also a taxidermist, sure. So I went and talked to him, and I asked him if there was any way to find out who found me, yeah, and he says was called the dispatch, and we'll have him looking records. So he called down there, and they had a phone number that somebody would have called in. And so I called that number, and I got a fireman from Arizona, and talking to him, he said he was on a trip with another truckload of guys. There was two trucks traveling together. He was in front

Caitlin Van Mol 31:30 the firefighter said there was a man in the road trying to flag someone down,

Bryon 31:36 and he says I had to either stop or hit him. And he pulled off, and he took him over to me, and he said, Then he called 911,

Caitlin Van Mol 31:48 the man then left. The firefighter guessed the man was undocumented and didn't want to be involved with law enforcement, but he had no way to know for sure. I

Bryon 32:00 don't know if, if the dog got out to the highway and got attention, and that's the reason the guy came to me, yeah, because he had to go out of his way if he pulled off the highway and didn't really look around, he just noticed there's a Jeep park there. You may not have seen me laying on the ground, and maybe the dog got attention and, yeah,

Caitlin Van Mol 32:23 got him to me. I don't know I mean, and there's no way we can prove it one way or the other. So I I'm gonna choose to believe that buddy ran out there and flagged someone down for you. I'm gonna choose to believe he saved you.

Bryon 32:39 I do too. One time we were camping, and my friend had a pup, golden retriever, a golden lab. He was about six or eight months old, and he had a Dutch oven, and he had a welding glove, you know, to handle it and stuff. And that pup took off with the glove, and he says, Bodie, get back here with that glove. But he was sitting right next to me, and I just whispered to him, I said, buddy, go get the glove. And he got up, and he walked over to that dog, and he walked over to a real slow and got real close to his face, and then gently grabbed the glove and took it out of his mouth and brought it

Caitlin Van Mol 33:21 to me. He's so smart, so,

Bryon 33:23 you know, I could say he's done things, quite a few things that just blew my mind. I didn't have any help arrive, until that dog woke me up and I told him I needed help. I

Caitlin Van Mol 33:45 Caitlin, this is live to tell. I'm Caitlin Van Mol you can follow the show on Instagram and Tiktok at live to tell podcast. If you enjoy today's episode, please rate review and subscribe. It really helps the show. I'll see you in two weeks. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai