Nurse Struck by Lightning Leaves Hospital After More Than a Year: 'Feels Like I Was Born Again'

Mar. 15, 2025

Thalita Teixeira Padilla being transferred from Boston Medical Center to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.Photo:CBS Boston

CBS Boston

Formerly a nurse herself, Padilla was first admitted to Boston Medical Center in critical condition — she suffered burns, nerve damage and an injury to her spinal cord — and spent several weeks on the “edge of life,” a hospital official previously told ABC 10.

“I was crying so much because I don’t want to lose my daughter, but she is strong,” Padilla’s mother, Marcia Teixeira, recalled to the Boston outlet.

Thalita Teixeira Padilla.gofundme

gofundme

In October, Padilla was later transferred to Spaulding, where she continued her recovery — and slowly learned to walk again.

“It was amazing to watch, she was incredible to work with,” Norah Sweeney, a physical therapist at Spaulding, told ABC 10, adding that Padilla “works really hard.”

Padilla’s recovery reached a turning point about two months ago, she told ABC 10, when all of a sudden she “started to feel less pain” in her body.

“Something went off like a lightbulb in my head,” she said of the moment.

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Now experiencing less pain and able to move with the help of a walker, Padilla was discharged on Thursday, and told ABC 10 she hopes to return to work as soon as possible.

“I am starting to think about the future for the first time in this whole year, and it seems very new still,” said the former nurse, who plans to move to Connecticut.

“It feels like I was born again, it feels like starting a whole new life,” she added.

Padilla’s dog, Bruce, meanwhile, went missing after she was struck last fall, but was later found and returned to her family.

source: people.com