In an instant

Father-and-son fishing trips are meant to be a time for bonding, a time to smile and laugh and share in experiences that won't soon be forgotten. They're what photo albums are made for. In a perfect world, these outings don't involve circumstances like those that three men and their sons faced while the six were fishing in northern Ontario last weekend.

On Aug. 4, Mike Morse and his 20-year-old son, Willie, both of State College, and four friends were fishing on a remote lake in the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park, about 30 miles north of Peterborough, Ont. Their three canoes cut the crystal water and sent ripples through the mirror image of green trees and a clouded sky.

Thomas Kinkade should have been there.

The smallmouth bass, some up to 3 pounds, were hitting like crazy. All six anglers soon had their limits. Visions of fillets sizzling over an open campfire danced through their heads as they floated back toward their campsite along Vixen Lake.

This was the group's fifth fishing and camping adventure into the park, and the earlier rain and current stormy clouds were forecast to give way to three beautiful days. The group included the Morses as well as Eric Fabian, his 8-year-old son Tanner, Tony Bruno and his 13-year-old son Jonathan.

Even though they had already endured the capsizing of Morse's canoe, a stubborn motor that would not run and learning that their favorite campsite was already taken, they were fishing. Fathers and sons fishing together. Life was good.

Then life took one of those turns you never see coming or never want to.

A brief thunderstorm blew in and moved on. The hours of light were growing short, so Mike, a kiniesiology instructor at Penn State, cleaned the fish in the rain. They started a fire and enjoyed a lakeside dinner, then Eric and Willie took a canoe out for some evening fishing while the other four kept busy at the campsite. Willie, a former all-state basketball player State College who helped the Little Lions to a PIAA title in 2003, is readying for his sophomore year at Colgate University after transferring last spring from St. Bonaventure, where he played guard for the Bonnies.

The sky darkened again and the moving clouds indicated yet another storm was approaching. Not wanting to be caught on the open water in an aluminum canoe, Eric and Willie hurried off the lake just before the rain began. Mike, Willie, Eric and Tanner huddled in one tent, the Brunos in another, as they listened to the large drops of rain pelt the thin fabric.

All four in the large tent were reclining on their bedrolls. Eric and 8-year-old Tanner were discussing the workings of a multi-purpose Leatherman tool. It was approaching 8:30 p.m.

In the next instant, the Brunos, in their tent about 30 feet from the others, were blinded by a flash of lightning and deafened by an instantaneous crash of thunder. Tony was shocked on his knee and Jonathan felt it through his elbow.

Things were much different in the four-person tent.

"If you've seen the cartoon where the mouse sticks a cat's tail in a light socket and the legs and hair all shoot straight out -- that's what I felt like," recalled Eric Fabian.

No one in the tent saw the flash or heard the thunder. Tanner said that he saw both Mike and Eric being thrown three feet in the air.

"I dove on my son, kind of an instinctive response," said Eric.

Tanner said that he thought his back was bleeding. Eric called out to Mike and Willie asking if they were OK. Mike responded, but could not move. After several calls, Willie did not answer. Eric couldn't turn his head and the left side of his body was numb.

"Willie sat up and said, 'Dad I'm not feeling right,'" Mike recalled. "Then he collapsed, his eyes rolled up in his head and he started convulsing. Moments later foam was pouring out of Willie's mouth and he turned purple."

Eric opened Willie's airway and called for Tony. Meanwhile, Eric's feet turned black and purple and he and Mike gradually regained feeling and the use of their bodies. Willie continued to convulse as Tony, Eric and Mike held him. He was breathing irregularly and he had a pulse.

They prayed.

It is difficult to imagine the terror and confusion of the moment. Both Eric and Mike knew that a wrong decision could mean the end of a life.

It turns out Tanner was not bleeding, but he didn't feel well. Although they hadn't been able to manage a cell phone signal from the lake before, Tony tried his, but it was dead. Then Eric tried his. With two bars of reception, he called 911. It was 8:40 p.m. when they reached emergency personnel in Peterborough, Ontario.

The rescue helicopter couldn't fly in the storm so a rescue crew set out by boat.

"It was quite a trek to get up there. It was an all-night call," Peterborough County Staff Sergeant Rod Case told the Kawartha News.

Case told the paper that emergency personnel had to boat across Long Lake, make an 800-meter portage to Buzzard Lake, boat to another 500-meter portage to Vixen Lake and use canoes and a rowboat to reach the campers. Their progress was often stopped by the fierce storm.

Outside, the campers discovered that lightning had struck a small pine tree near their tent. The tree was destroyed and the ground nearby was torn up. Two dime-sized holes were burned in the tent right above where Willie had been lying.

Willie's convulsions stopped but he was very confused. Eric was able to walk after about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the thunderstorm raged on. No one wanted to stay in the tent, so they moved to lower ground and covered themselves with a large tarp. They treated Willie for shock.

Emergency personnel stayed in phone contact and told the group to keep a fire burning so that they could be located in the dark.

"We went through our dry firewood supply and we burned everything -- a nylon backpack, sleeping bags, clothes, everything -- to ignite the wet wood and to keep the fire burning," said Mike Morse.

It was a long night as they worried about and tended to Willie. Tanner still wasn't feeling well and Eric feared that his son might drop over at any moment. The rescue party finally reached the group at 4 a.m., nearly eight hours after the initial call.

The group was instructed by the emergency personnel to leave everything behind.

"You soon decide what is valuable," said Eric. "And believe me, it isn't your tent, your canoes or backpacks. It's your family and friends' lives."

Two hours later, the campers were treated at Peterborough Regional Health Centre and were placed in a nearby hotel.

Both Eric and Mike praised the rescue personnel and the hospitality that they were shown at the hotel. Mike and Willie were re-evaluated when they arrived back in State College last Saturday. The others visited doctors in Pittsburgh and all are well. Peterborough rescue and hospital have both stayed in touch.

Both Mike and Eric have wondered about all of the "what ifs." What if the smaller Tanner had been in Willie's position? What if neither cell phone had worked? What if they had been in their regular camping spot? The questions go on and on. Of course, no one knows those answers.

Eric said that the EMTs told them they had done everything correctly. This tragic story had a happy ending but, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, nearly 100 lightning-related deaths occur in the U.S., and another 500 people are injured each year. Outdoor enthusiasts should not take the threat lightly.

Mark Nale, who lives in the Bald Eagle Valley, is a biology teacher and member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. He can be reached at MarkAngler@aol.com.