Campbell Gillespie had been jogging with a friend when he was hit from behind by a million-volt flash of lightning, sending him flying into the air and putting him in a coma.

He needed surgery to rebuild his face after the strike and three weeks later his jaw was still wired up. After learning that a gold chain and cross bore the brunt of the lightning bolt, Mr Gillespie, 39, of Prescot, Merseyside, said he had experienced a miracle. “I can’t remember being struck by the lightning at all,” he said.

“My mind is a complete blank. I have lost two days before the accident as well. But I was running with my friend, Ray Handley, and he has filled me in.

“We were in a park near my gym when a storm came. The lightning struck the back of my neck and tossed me flying into the air. I landed face down in a puddle, completely dead to the world. Ray lifted me out of the water, helped me to breathe and called an ambulance.”

He added: “I was in so much pain when I woke up in hospital. I had no idea what happened. It felt like someone had picked me up, shook every bone in my body and dropped me from a great height. I knew it was serious, but I thought somebody had beat me up because my teeth were missing.”

Mr Gillespie said he had received divine intervention. He said: “I truly believe that God and my Gran were looking over me that day. I have worn the cross and chain every day since it was left to me by her when she died 15 years ago. The fact the cross survived is a sign she was looking out for me.

“I am not an extremely religious man but I have faith and that is what has kept me strong.”

His father, Jack, said that his son’s injuries had been so severe that he could hardly recognise him. “He didn’t even have a face when I first saw him,” he said. “He was so smashed up it looked nothing like him.

“It is an absolute miracle he survived. It will take time to get him back running again, but we are so glad he survived.”

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