PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- Dreaming of the day he could finally get one of his own, Noah Fowler's love for motorcycles was revving up well before he could ride.
"My brother and my dad both ride, they both have Harleys, so they talked me into getting a Harley," said Fowler.
So, when the weather seemed perfect on September 9, Fowler took a ride on his 2003 edition Sportster 1200 to Skyline Drive.
Despite the sunshine earlier in the day, storm clouds gathered on the horizon and Noah's innocent ride would take a turn for the worse.
"I was on my way home because I thought I was beating the storm. I was hit by lightning and thrown off my motorcycle," Fowler described.
Noah was struck just three miles from his home. "Next thing I know I wake up with a bunch of people surrounding me, it felt unreal," Fowler said.
Strangers like Erica Sutherland would rush to Noah's side. "That's all I can tell anybody, it was like a scene out of a movie," Sutherland said. "You hear a loud boom, and you see lights that are flying from all different directions."
Erica is a home health care worker and photographer and was traveling in the opposite direction on the highway headed to Skyline Drive to take pictures.
She said she just remembers yelling 'Stop the jeep, let me out' after seeing the big flash. "I ran in the ditch and ran back up and when I got to him, all I could see was his visor was up and his face and his eyes were rolling," she said.
Erica immediately put her medical experience to the test and checked Noah's vitals. "There was no pulse," she said.
With Noah's life slipping away, Sutherland performed CPR for the next four minutes and 12 seconds.
"Finally, he came back and when he came back the first thing he said was "Am I alive?" Sutherland said.
Mere moments from death, she said Noah was able to utter one request - to speak to his mom. As a mother herself, Sutherland said the way he said the word mom "is something you don't ever want to hear as a parent."
Sutherland was able to get the number from Noah and called his mother.
"I got the phone call from Erica, she didn't even say do you have a son, she said 'I have your son, he's been in a motorcycle accident,'" said Noelle Fowler after receiving the call from Erica.
Terrified, Noelle rushed to her son's side praying he survived. "I looked down at him, tears streaming down his face he says I love you, I'm sorry," she said.
After miraculously surviving the I-66 accident, Noah was taken to a Fairfax hospital, where he was able to reunite with the stranger who saved his life just days earlier.
"I grabbed his shoulder, and he looked up and he just grabbed onto me," said Sutherland. Noah and Erica described their reunion as a moment of few words.
"I don't have the words for it, it was unreal," said Fowler. "I finally got to see the face of the girl that saved my life."
Noelle said she'll forever be grateful for the woman who saved her son's life. "I tell her all the time, I gave life to him the first time, you gave life to him the second, we will forever be bonded," Noelle said.
The lightning struck Noah in his right ear and exited his leg, and as a result, the bolt blew out his eardrum and melted his necklace into his skin.
He has one surgery down and another one scheduled, doctors say the road to recovery will be long.
"It's still very traumatic, the images aren't gone they won't go away, neither of us are sleeping," said Sutherland.
Yet, even in the midst of the dark clouds this storm brought, Noah and his lifesaver said the beauty of the rainbow that followed outweighed it all.
"I don't think it was a coincidence at all. The only thing I can say is it was the craziest act of God," said Sutherland. "It definitely changed us, but it's also changed I know myself for the better."
Erica, Noah, and some of his family said they all plan on getting matching lightning bolt tattoos sometime in the future.
With Noah unable to work for a while because of his injuries, Erica started a fundraiser to help with his living expenses and medical bills.
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