Chris Howarth was visiting his parents in northern California from Idaho when he stepped out into the backyard to check their water line and got bit by a rattlesnake—twice. He initially thought he’d simply stepped on something sharp, but then he realized what had happened. One of the rattlesnake bites had struck a vein in his leg. He was already experiencing symptoms of the venom working its way through his system by the time they reached the hospital 15 minutes away.
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Howarth received a dose of anti-venom within an hour after the strike, but issues kept coming Howarth, a father of three, says he wrote letters to his kids, thinking he might not make it. After the local hospital ran out of anti-venom, medical professional transported Howarth to another hospital for more. All in all, KTLA reports that he was hospitalized for 12 days, primarily in intensive care, and received 54 doses of anti-venom.
See a photo of the man’s leg and the rattlesnake that delivered those two hefty bites below.
Header stock image by Eric Mischke/Getty Images
