By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Hundreds of people came to the fellowship hall at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church on Sunday to support the family of Dustin Jost.

Jost escaped death Sept. 18 when he touched a hot wire in an electrical box on an irrigation rig. Electricity went through his hand and exited through his heart.

“I don’t know how to describe how I felt,” he said. “It was such a shock to my body that I felt numb at first.”

His wife, Ashley, took him to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, where doctors amputated a burned thumb and index finger on his right hand.

He needed skin grafts on one spot on his arm and on his chest where the electricity left his body.

Jost remained in the hospital for two weeks. He is back on the farm and undergoing occupational therapy.

“I feel like I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for God,” he said. “The 480 volts exited my chest. He saved my life.”

Dustin and Ashley have three children: Grayson, 7; Kinley, 4; and Sage, 2.

His supporters gave donations and enjoyed a Hillsboro sausage lunch.

“I feel blessed to be part of such a caring community,” he said.