ORLANDO, Fla. — A 12-year-old girl who was on a family vacation in Central Florida remains in the hospital after she was struck by lightning while at the beach.
Mila Yang has been unconscious since Aug. 14 when she struck visiting Inlet Beach in Brevard County with her family, CBS affiliate WKMG reported.
The girl's aunt caught the moment the incident happened while filming a video for social media. The video shows Yang entering the water and then shows her aunt and the girl's mother falling to the ground when the strike happens.
Moments after the strike, the family finds the 12-year-old unconscious in the water.
According to a GoFundMe page for Yang, she was initially taken to a local hospital but her injuries were so severe she was flown by helicopter to AdventHealth Children’s Hospital in Orlando.
Yang was put on a ventilator and has undergone surgery. Doctors have said she has brain damage, which means she is not able to use her left-side body functions, remember things or people, process information, eat and other things affected by right-sided brain injury.
It is believed the 12-year-old will need around-the-clock specialized care.
“We didn’t know anything about Florida. We know lots of people come and take their kids on vacations to the beach or Disney. We didn’t know anything about thunderstorms,” Yang's mother told WKMG.
The family told the news outlet that the Central Florida community has been very supportive during this time. Yang and her family are originally from Minneapolis but will remain in Florida until she can be transferred,
To visit their GoFundMe page, click here.
