Toddler bitten by rattlesnake twice, given 30 vials of antivenom: ‘We miss her smiles’
PHOENIX (KPNX) – A toddler in Arizona is recovering after she was bitten by a rattlesnake twice on her foot.
Jacquelyn Reed said her daughter Cara, who just turned 1 a few months ago, is lucky to be alive. Reed believes it was her quick actions that saved her daughter’s life.
Last Friday, Reed and her daughter were out walking around their property in Florence, southeast of Phoenix, when Reed picked up a piece of trash.
“I saw a piece of trash, picked it up, went to go throw it away, came back like under 10 seconds, and she was crying,” Reed recalled.
When she went to see what was wrong, Reed saw the bites immediately.
“I looked at her foot, and she had four puncture wounds on the top of her foot, in the little window of her little jelly shoe,” she said.
Then she saw what was hiding behind Cara – a diamondback rattlesnake.
“I was terrified, but I went right into go mode,” Reed said.
Acting quickly, Reed rushed Cara to the nearest ER in town, calling them ahead of time to tell them her daughter needed anti-venom.
“Her foot, I mean, rapidly swole and was a nice shade of black within the 20 minutes it took to get to the ER,” Reed said.
After they arrived, Cara was airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital for further treatment.
In addition to her foot swelling and turning black, the 15-month-old could barely breathe.
“She would have these episodes where she would drop her oxygen percentages down to, like, 25% or even less than 10%,” her mom said.
Cara ended up being intubated, and she also received 30 vials of antivenom.
“It’s really difficult to watch all of her complications,” Reed said.
Thankfully, Cara recently started breathing on her own, and she’s gotten some feeling back in her foot.
Still, she has a very long road to recovery.
Her mom believes that if it wasn’t for her leaving immediately for the hospital, her daughter may not be alive.
“It was really about the response of moving quickly that I think saved her life,” she said.
Reed describes her daughter as the “angel” of the family and said all her siblings can’t wait until she’s back home.
“She’s just this little light in our home, and we just miss her. We miss her smiles,” she said.
The family hopes Cara will make a full recovery and will be back to her normal self again soon.
“Obviously, I hope that we can get full function back, that she can, you know, be back to her normal, happy, cute, adorable self,” Reed said. “We’ll see what we can do, and we’re just grateful we still have her with us.”
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