A FARNHAM man has recounted his extraordinary experience of being struck by lightning and spending the next hour-and-a-half trying to save the life of his close friend while paralysed down one side of his body.

Nick Earl, 58, was walking in the Brecon Beacons on Sunday, July 5, this year with friends Bill Belcher, 46, and Robin Meakings, 59, when an unexpected lightning storm engulfed the group at the top of 2,600ft high mountain Cribyn.As they made their escape off the peak, disaster struck when a bolt of electricity struck Robin before passing through Nick who was helping his friend adjust a walking pole.Robin, a retired soldier and teacher from Pulborough in West Sussex, was killed instantly while Nick, a technician from Sandy Hill in Farnham, was thrown against a rock, temporarily paralysing his right arm and leaving him in excruciating pain.Two months on - and after an inquest confirmed nothing could have been done to prevent the deaths of Robin or 51-year-old youth worker Jeremy Prescott who was struck on a neighbouring peak that same afternoon - Nick recounted the events surrounding July 5.He told The Herald: “We met each other around nine years ago and became close friends. We’ve been on countless walking holidays together and as far as we were concerned, it was just another rainy day. We thought we’d just walk to the top of the mountain, come back down the other side, get in the car and go to the pub. Sadly we didn’t get that far.”Nick said it started to drizzle when they were about three quarters of the way up the mountain but, as they kept climbing the rain got harder and turned into sleet. By the time they reached the top they were soaked and agreed to abandon their original route. They had just turned around when the lightning struck.“There was no warning, no flashes in the distance, there was nothing, no hint of it,” Nick said. “It was a total and utter surprise for all of us, and probably for the guy on the other mountain as well.“There was a sudden bang and it was like someone reaching down from the sky and hitting you with a freight train. It was the hardest thump you could possibly imagine and I can remember being thrown and the whole world being turned around before hitting a rock.“As an experienced climber I’ve hit loads of rocks in the past and they hurt. But this didn’t hurt because none of my nerves were working. It was like being wrapped in a very thick, painful duvet and everything was on fire. Not in a literal sense, but that was what my nerves were registering at that time.“I couldn’t move for about seven minutes and was screaming, but without making a noise. Bill later described it as a groan, but that’s only because I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.”All the while Nick was paralysed, he was conscious that his friends were in trouble and as a trained first aider, was desperate to come to their aid. Eventually, he gathered the strength to stagger over to where Bill was trying to resuscitate Robin and, despite his own life-threatening injuries, took over the lifesaving efforts.“My right arm was still paralysed and I could barely walk or hear, but I tried to explain to Bill what he needed to do to get some air into him,” Nick continued. “I got him to ring the emergency services while I began to pump Robin’s chest, which was difficult because I couldn’t use both hands.“In hindsight, Robin was killed instantly. But as a first aider, you can’t ever allow yourself to think someone isn’t saveable because in that moment you’re all they’ve got. He never showed throughout the hour-and-a-half we worked on him a flicker of coming back, but we had to keep working on him.”After an hour of performing exhausting one-handed chest compressions, an RAF Sea King helicopter arrived to whisk them off the mountain and, after stopping again to pick up the second casualty, to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil where Robin and Jeremy were declared dead on arrival.“I had kind of accepted it by then, but it was still strange when they stopped,” said Nick. “I thought they’d take him in and work on him some more, but they didn’t. They just decided at that point that was enough, and then suddenly it was all about me, which was quite odd.”Nick was rushed to A&E and then the burns unit as doctors were unclear whether the lightning had damaged his internal organs as well as causing burns to his right hand and foot.But after being monitored overnight, Nick regained the feeling in his arm and scans revealed his life wasn’t in immediate danger. He was discharged and made his journey back home to Farnham.Nick still suffers some weakness in his right arm as well as short-term memory loss, but apart from “a few minor physical things” he says he is almost back to normal.He added his experience has taught him the value of first-aid training, and he urges people to take advantage of training sessions run by groups such as St John Ambulance.“It’s a cliche, but first aid training really does save lives. Because of all that stuff I did with St John, playing around with dummies and so on, when it actually comes to it and there's a 60 year-old-man in front of you and he's your mate, you just do what you need to do.“There's still a part of me that says first aid didn't make any difference because Robin is still dead, and that hurts. But you also know that you did everything you could have done, and everything you should have done, which makes a big difference.”