Boy Saves Mom After Lightning Strike

July 9, 2009 — -- What began as a typical morning meal turned into a life-altering event when a bolt of lightning struck a mother of six inside her Texas home as she cleared the breakfast table.

What saved Kimberly Krone's life was the quick action of her 9-year-old son Tristan Coxwell, who called 911 for help.

"When I was little she got me a little play phone and stuff and I played with it. She taught me how to call 911," Tristan told "Good Morning America" today. "In this equation, I just remembered to call 911 in an emergency."

Krone, whose children range in age from 6 months to 9 years, was cleaning up from breakfast with her kids on June 11 and had just grabbed a dirty pan when she heard two loud booms.

That sound was quickly followed by an electrical bolt which made its way through recessed lighting in her ceiling, before bouncing off the pan and plunging into her chest.

The 29-year-old from Forney, Texas said she tried to drop the pan but couldn't and the current shot out of her little toe.

Krone, who had watched the weather warnings in her area before being struck, said she felt like she was on fire when the current passed through her body.

Tristan, who already was on his way into the kitchen to warn his mother because he had seen a bolt hit the thermostat, watched as Krone collapsed to her knees.

As she crawled to the living room, Krone instructed her son to call "Mamaw," her mother who lives nearby. Instead, Tristan grabbed his mother's cell phone from her back pocket and dialed 911 -- just as Krone had taught him to do since he was a small child.

At first, Tristan cried and struggled to explain to the dispatcher what happened. But soon he collected himself and even hushed his siblings in order to convey the pertinent information to the operator.

"Lightning came through the ceiling!" he told the dispatcher, the panic evident in his voice.

On the call, he explained that he was home with his four brothers and sister and that his mother was lying on the floor with her eyes closed.

"Mom's hurting real bad," he said. "She is still breathing."

Her children begged her not to die, and Krone reassured that them that she wouldn't.

Even as Tristan was trying to get help for his mother, the storm wouldn't let up and yet another lightning bolt entered the Krone house. This time it came from the hallway ceiling and it struck the computer.