The woman struck by lightning last Thursday night while working on a farm in southern Jessamine County has died.
Kathlyn Friend, 67, died Saturday afternoon at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center.
Friend was transported to the hospital where she had remained in critical condition until her death.
According to Jessamine County fire chief Mike Rupard, Friend was laying water lines near 1191 Crenshaw Lane when the incident happened.
“The storm came up on them when they were out way back in a field, and the lightning struck her,” he said.
Rupard said a man drove out to U.S. 27 at Bethel Road to flag down firefighters and lead them to his wife.
“He took the EMS unit to a barn two fields away because he knew the ambulance wouldn’t be able to get there,” Rupard said. “So when I got there, I grabbed the EMS workers and (assistant chief) Gerald (Wheeler) off Engine 1, and we drove back to the field to where she was at. We had to drive over water lines and ditches, and I got stuck, so they ended up running up to where she was at and started doing CPR — her son was actually already doing CPR on her.”
Rupard said she was taken to Saint Joseph-Jessamine RJ Corman Ambulatory Care Center and once they got her stable enough to transport her, they took her to UK in Lexington.
