My name is Luis.  Luis Aguilar Romero Sanchez is my full name.  I am now twelve years old.  I live in Nashville, Tennessee, with my mami, papi, abuela (Lupe'), my little brothers (Miguel, 10 and Lukas, 8), and my older sister, Hildega Rosita, who's 16.

I was like any other child.  That all changed on July 7, 2003.  I was struck by lightning while getting out of the pool.  I don't remember much about what'd happened:  I just remember getting out of the pool, then hearing this loud, loud noise, seeing this blinding white light and then nothing.

When I woke up later (don't know how long I was out), I was surprised to find myself lying in the hospital.  I had IV's in my arms, tubes in and on me, in a great deal of pain.  Everyone around me was crying; for a minute, I thought I died.

I did not die.  I was alive.  Very much alive.  The family was crying because I woke up; they said they didn't think I'd ever wake up again.  I had been in a coma before awakening.  I was out for weeks, they told me.

I got better enough to get out of the hospital; my ordeal was long from over.

I spent weeks in a rehab center, learning how to move again.  My muscles didn't work right.  I had other problems, among them being an irregular heart rate, intense pain in my limbs (these were caused by muscle spasms), numbness in my limbs, and wasn't able to control how I moved.  I was in a wheelchair. 

Eventually, though, therapy brought me to where I could walk with a walker.  I continued to have the pain, the shakiness.  Medicine took care of the worst of the problems; I was soon able to function like any other kid.

When I was ten, I ditched the walker.  I was now walking under my own power, which was nothing short of a miracle.  Doctors said I'd never be the same again.  I was proving them wrong.  Now when you see me, I look like any other preadolescent boy.  I do talk slower, though, and unless I told you I had been struck by lightning, you wouldn't know it.

It was a long, hard road to get back to the point where I am today.  I have God to thank for that; He's the one who brought me through this difficult time in my life.  I also have my abuela, Lupe', to thank; she was the one who was by my side the most during my period of recovery, rehabilitation.

Now I am speaking out about the dangers of being outdoors when it is lightning.  I tell people (and adults) to get indoors as soon as you hear thunder.  It is said that if you hear thunder, you stand the chance of getting struck.  I know:  it happened to me.

I am sharing my story at churches, schools, other community functions.  I have become something of a minor "celebrity" in my home city.  I am known as "That Miracle Kid", "The Lightning Boy", and other nicknames.  It gets embarrassing at times, with the all the fuss, the hoopla.

I want to be treated as a normal boy.  I don't like all this attention.  It makes me uncomfortable.  I just want to get past that part of my life, concentrate on my future, think where I want to go to college.

When I grow up, I want to be a pastor or a doctor (can't decide which).

Well, that's my story.  I will write in here again soon.  Take care and may God bless you!

~Luis Aguilar Romero Sanchez, aged 12. :)