Jacob Brewer, struck by lightning five years ago, defies the odds with a miraculous recovery, as his family raises awareness about lightning safety.
KELLER, Texas — In a quiet Keller living room that now looks more like a rehab gym, a father leans over his teenage son.
“Alright, bud… one, two, three,” he says, helping him shift positions in a wheelchair.
That’s just part of the routine now. Laps around the living room — a routine Jacob Brewer and his parents never asked for, and still wake up hoping they can one day leave behind.
Because what landed them here wasn’t a car accident or a genetic disorder — it was lightning.
Five years ago, on what was supposed to be a carefree Florida vacation, Jacob Brewer was struck. The bolt entered through his chest and exited through his foot. It stopped his heart, scrambled his nervous system, and paralyzed him.
“He’s made a miraculous recovery,” said Jacob’s dad, Jeremiah Brewer. “Just that he survived is miraculous.”
But survival was only the beginning. Since that day, Jacob and his family have been fighting — state by state, specialist by specialist — for every inch of progress.
“From Tampa to Fort Worth to Chicago,” said Jacob’s mom, Barbara Brewer. “We wiped out our 401-K. Got on a plane. Traveled to Vienna, Austria.”
They flew halfway around the world in search of hope in the form of a machine that uses electricity, ironically, to help stimulate Jacob’s damaged muscles and nerves. They turned their home into a rehab center. They became caretakers, cheerleaders, physical therapists, and most of all — relentless believers.
Because Jacob still has one goal.
“I do want to walk again,” he said. “So I’m going to be willing to put in this effort as long as it takes.”
Every attempted step is part of the fight. Every rep. Every exercise. Every breath.
“We’ve come a long ways and have a long way to go,” Jeremiah Brewer said. “And we’re still in it.”
And they’re sharing their story now not for sympathy, but as a warning.
According to the National Weather Service, on average, lightning strikes about 270 people each year in the U.S. Roughly 20 to 50 of them don’t survive. The odds may seem low — about 1 in 15,000 — but Jacob’s family knows those odds mean nothing when you become the “one.”
Just this past Sunday, a group of 14 people narrowly escaped serious injury at Benbrook Lake when lightning hit a tree and a metal and canvas awning they were under while trying to escape a sudden Texas storm. And, in a phenomenon Jacob painfully understands, a pickup truck parked near the tree suffered extensive electronic damage, too.
“I just don’t want you to go through what my son has gone through. What we’ve gone through,” said Barbara. “And I have more people who say, you know, because of your story, I actually take it a little more seriously.”
“You never think it will happen to you until it happens,” Jacob said. “Even if it’s just the smallest chance, nature doesn’t care. It doesn’t care.”
But Jacob does. He wants people to listen. To look up. To take shelter. And to understand the lifelong cost that can come in a flash.
“I’m lucky that I survived,” he said.
Jacob, 19, is taking college courses online through LSUA. The young man who’s beaten the odds still has a passion for actuarial science and math. His story is also included in a 2025 documentary called Lightning Flowers.
And you can still help the Brewer family with their substantial medical bills. Proceeds from a HelpHopeLive campaign fundraiser go directly to Jacob’s medical expenses.