LANDIS, N.C. — The last few days for Brynnlee Steger weren't what you'd call a typical end for a teen's summer break. The junior at Jesse C. Carson High School in China Grove, North Carolina was supposed to be walking to her classes and getting ready for another year of rooting for the Cougars as a member of the cheerleading squad.
But on Monday, Aug. 7, Steger's life changed quite literally in a flash during her summer job at the public pool in the town of Landis.
"My boss had sent me out to get an umbrella from out underneath a picnic table," she told WCNC Charlotte, noting her mom was getting another umbrella from a different table nearby. "I grab it and I hear thunder. So I drop the umbrella and I turn around and see this huge mass of electricity behind me and my mom."
Steger said she felt a sharp pain in her arm as she turned, saying it felt like it had been cut off. That wasn't the case, but immediate reaction still kicked in for Steger.
"I knew what had happened and my mom saw it," she said. "And then I started darting out and I fell. My mom was chasing me, helping me get up, and then I remember getting laid out in the concessions room."
Steger, her mom, and her boss awaited for paramedics to arrive just minutes later. She was then rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment as they monitored her.
"They saw that my heart rate was greatly going up and my oxygen was going down," she said. "They saw me hyperventilating, so they picked me up and took me into the ambulance."
Steger said she had several EKGs monitoring her, an IV in, and constant watch over her through the 20-minute drive. After a few hours in the emergency room, Steger was then admitted and monitored for 24 hours.
Now, Steger tells WCNC Charlotte she's begun her road to recovery, first by acknowledging and processing what happened to her.
"It was a lot of shock and pain at the same time," she said. "My body is still trying to process what's going on. I think telling the story a couple of times has helped me get a grip on it."
Another thing that Steger is learning to adapt to is how her arm is affected by the strike.
"I have no nerves from my elbow to my fingertips on my left arm," she said. "The muscle is very, very weak, so I'm not able to pick up or move anything with it."
Steger expects she'll be in physical therapy for a few months to work on the muscles, but she admits the nerve problems are something she'll likely have to face for the rest of her life. She'll work on getting caught up with schoolwork but admits she likely won't be able to do cheer.
Given the traumatic nature of what happened to her, Steger is taking it in stride.
"I could be dead, we could be having a funeral today, and I wouldn't be able to explain my story to everybody," she said. "I can take whatever physical part comes with it. I'm just happy to be alive."
Steger's garnered plenty of support both locally and across the state. She said Landis town manager Michael Ambrose has checked in on her, and her stepfather shared her story when someone asked about it during a work trip in Raleigh on Thursday.
"I'm learning to adjust," she added, "and that's going to take some time. Things will definitely be complicated for the first little bit, but with everyone here for me and learning how to do stuff basically without my whole arm, I'll be okay."