Father, daughter survive lightning strike in Northern Minnesota

A little league tournament in Northern Minnesota turned scary for a Virginia, Minn family.

The Mott family was at their 8-year-old son Harley’s baseball game in Cherry Township when a thunderstorm caused a delay. While waiting out the storm in a pavilion Harley’s 4-year-old sister Ava, started to get antsy. That is when Harley and Ava’s dad Jay decided to take Ava to the family’s van.

With Ava in his arms, Jay began the dash to the van, but 20 feet away from their vehicle, the pair was struck by a bolt of lightning.

"People jumped right in at the Little League field. They kept doing CPR until the ambulance arrived and then they could take over," Jay’s cousin Alena Gawtry said.

The lightning strike threw Ava from her father's arms and burned her right arm and leg, but her injuries weren’t severe and she was released from the hospital on Tuesday.

However, the same can’t be said for Jay. Paramedics had to restart his heart twice and he is still in a Duluth hospital in critical condition.

"He is conscious. Today was an amazing day. He was able to respond to the doctors when they asked him questions. He was able to nod and blink so he is trying to communicate with us so that's a great thing," Gawtry said.

At such a young age, Ava’s family says she doesn’t understand what happened. But they all consider themselves lucky Jay is still alive after such a scare.

For now Gawtry, like the rest of her family is focusing on what they do have.

“It’s a tragedy. You go to your son's little league game and you don’t expect something like this to happen. You hear things on the news. You never expect it to hit so close to home."