Florida Couple Struck by Lightning Saved by 4 Runners

A Central Florida couple is celebrating a second chance at life after strangers refused to run past them in their darkest moment.

Aaron and Clare Walenga were walking hand in hand under an umbrella on the West Orange Trail in Winter Garden on September 2 when lightning struck. Aaron hit the pavement face first, unable to move through excruciating pain. Clare lay unconscious and not breathing.

Four friends on their weekly run club spotted the couple and immediately called 911. Michael Sachetti Weyand rushed to Clare and saw something that stopped his heart. She had turned blue, a color he'd only seen in training videos.

"I checked to see if she was breathing, and she wasn't," Sachetti Weyand said. The group prepared to perform CPR as Tiffany Roby grabbed Clare's nose to begin mouth to mouth. That's when something miraculous happened.

"As soon as I grabbed your nose, I think I yelled out loud, 'She just took a massive breath,'" Roby recalled. Clare had come back.

Body camera footage captured a first responder thanking Sachetti Weyand for his life saving actions. "It's my daughter's birthday. So, to save a life," he replied through tears. In that moment, the weight of what had just happened hit him. Without their quick thinking, the outcome would have been completely different.

Both Aaron and Clare were rushed to the hospital in critical condition but survived. Weeks later, they met their rescuers face to face to express what words can barely capture.

"You all made decisions that entire time that put yourselves second, and that's really what bravery and heroism is," Aaron told the group. Clare thought of her three children. "I get to be your wife and the mom to my three precious children, and it's because of the actions that you took," she said.

Why This Inspires

The four runners didn't need to stop. They could have assumed someone else would help or that the situation was beyond saving. Instead, they chose to act when seconds mattered most. Their CPR training, which many people learn and hope never to use, became the difference between life and death.

The Walengas plan to return to the West Orange Trail soon for their Wednesday night walking tradition, a routine that nearly ended but now represents resilience and gratitude.