16/01/2025
Local resident Stuart Hickson shares his story concerning an Eastern Brown snake bite.
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Iām honestly quite embarrassed by my stupid mistake, and now the video is going viral at my expense. That said, posting it in the ( Snake Identification group) quite literally saved my life, so my ego can take the hit.
The snake was at my sisterās house, and I went to help, thinking the baby brown snake was a harmless tree snake. Handling it was an incredibly dumb thing to do, and I hope others can learn from my mistake.
I was bitten around 9:10 p.m. and called the ambos at 9:35 p.m. They arrived at 9:40, and by that point, I wasnāt showing any symptoms. Honestly, I felt embarrassed for wasting their time, but they immediately bandaged my arms tightly and calmly started the trip to the hospital around 9:55.
Five minutes into the trip, the symptoms hit fast and hard. The ambos quickly organized to meet up with their critical response team, who carry more advanced drugs and have more experience for cases like this.
By 10:10 p.m., I was close to being unresponsive, and they had to pull over to treat me. Even though I couldnāt respond, I could hear everything, and it was clear how stressed the paramedics were as they struggled to find veins due to my blood flow slowing down.
Itās all a bit of a blur from there, but I made it to the ED, where they kept pumping me with drugs while deciding on the right antivenom. I had told the paramedics it was a brown snake, but I learned later they didnāt want to risk it and gave me a polyvalent antivenom that covers most snake species in Australia.
I knew I was in bad shape, but I didnāt realize just how bad. I learned today that I went into peri-arrest and was in critical condition. The hospital staff told me Iām lucky to be alive, which is both sobering and deeply humblingāespecially as someone with a young family. One of the senior paramedics even said it was the worst snake bite reaction heād seen in his long career.
Iām still in ICU but feeling much better now and hopeful Iāll be out tomorrow.
This group literally saved my life, and while Iāll take the laughs at my expense, I have a young family and Iām aliveāthatās what really matters. Lesson learned, and I hope others can learn from my mistake too. Thank you again for everything.
