GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WSVN) — A Florida man who is no stranger to wildlife became the victim of a bad bite from a rattlesnake that sent him to the intensive care unit, fearing the worst. Fortunately, the hospital’s medical staff, including someone very close to him, knew just what to do.
David Humphlett, a social media influencer and wildlife enthusiast, was hospitalized after he was bitten in Gainesville.
“Well, I’m cooked. That right there is a fantastic Eastern diamondback rattlesnake that I just got bit in the leg by,” he said.
It happened Dec. 18. Humphlett was peeling bark around a tree in an effort to find another type of snake when he startled the rattlesnake.
“And then I just felt, you know, out of nowhere just this intense pain right in my leg,” he said. “I mean, honestly, it felt like an alligator. Internally, my reaction was just like. ‘Dang it, like, oh, this is really bad, you know, like I might lose my leg.'”
“We just went to the fire station, and it’s pretty scary because my whole body went numb, head to toe, and it was pretty scary,” he said. “I called my wife because I thought I might die. Then we got in an ambulance, 10-minute ride to the helipad, life flighted to Shands.”
A familiar face was waiting for him at the hospital: his wife, a University of Florida Health nurse Emma Rynear, who was at work.
“Internally, I’m panicking, but externally, I’m just reassuring him, like, ‘You’re gonna be so fine, it’s gonna be OK,'” she said, “and then my team here at work helped me run down to the emergency room to be right there as, as you know, the helicopter landed in.”
After 88 vials of anti-venom, Humphlett remains in the hospital’s ICU.
“Got my first 10 bottles of anti-venom down. The swelling is still getting worse, so I need more,” he said.
The couple said the community’s support has been incredible.
“The snake is just doing what it does. It just perceived me as a threat, and it was just trying to protect itself, so I’m not mad at the snake, and I don’t want anyone else to be mad at the snake, either,” said Humphlett.
Humphlett said he is excited to get back into the wild once he is released from the hospital.
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