A Texas boy died on Friday from the same lightning strike that killed his father last month after the pair was struck while holding hands.
On May 15, 6-year-old Grayson Boggs and his 11-year-old brother Elijah got off the school bus in front of their home in Valley Mills. Their father, 34-year-old Matthew Boggs, greeted the two, and the group was walking up their driveway when lightning struck Matthew and Grayson.
“He just got done telling Grayson, ‘I love you, buddy,’ and that’s when the lightning hit,” Grayson’s grandmother, Angeli Boggs, told FOX 4 News.
Grayson and Matthew were holding hands when the lightning hit. The bolt struck Matthew and traveled through his hand to Grayson. Both were flipped face-first onto the ground.
Matthew was already blue by the time family members reached him. FOX 4 News reported the husband and father of two died instantly as a result of the strike.
“I was really scared. I rolled Grayson over and he was kind of smiling a little bit,” Elijah said per Daily Mail. “I thought they were just joking, but when I rolled my dad over the middle of his head was bleeding and his face was already purple.”
Grayson was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support following the incident. He had gone into a coma due to oxygen deprivation, per Daily Mail. A relative set up a GoFundMe to help the family pay for Matthew’s funeral expenses and Grayson’s continued medical care.
In a post immediately following the accident, cousin Stephanie Burris wrote, “[Grayson] is currently on a vent and is having seizures. The doctors have told us that because he was hit by lightning, their main concerns are his heart, lungs, and kidney damage.”
Grayson showed signs of improvement in recent weeks, but doctors informed the family that his condition was unlikely to improve any further. Per Daily Mail, Grayson was taken off the ventilator on June 13. He was placed on palliative care the next day. Grayson died around 5 a.m. the following Friday.
The GoFundMe is still open. As of 8 p.m. Thursday, it had raised nearly $103,000 — $3,000 above its $100,000 goal.
