Letter: Bitten by a Fer de Lance

By Outside Online
Apr 28, 2009

Comments (3)

One of the biggest benefits for us after putting out our April Adventure Issue has been reading the inspirational letters from our readers. One of the best letters we received was about risk, sent in by Beth, of Dayton, MD. Read on for her amazing story and thoughts. And keep sending in those letters. We'll be publishing some of our favorites online every month.

Dear Outside,

On my recent spring break trip I took along your April "Why You Need Risk" edition, and read it cover to cover on the airplane.  Two days later, on a jungle survival expedition, my 14-year-old son Ian was bitten on the knee by a highly venomous and aggressive snake, the fer-de-lance.  Fortunately, our guides were able to find and identify the snake within minutes, and made the decision to self-evacuate as rapidly as possible. 

We abandoned our camp and with only water, headlamps and radio made the three-mile dash through the jungle, crossing two rivers and arriving at the road in pitch dark. We were met by a vehicle and rushed at 90-miles-per-hour to the government hospital in Belmopan. The place is decidedly low-tech, without so much as a computer or a working phone, but they knew the snake bite drill and within minutes had an IV line running with antivenin, steroids, antihistamines and antibiotics. The next twelve hours were surreal, as Ian's knee swelled to the size of a cantaloupe, he writhed with fevers and hallucinations, and the fang marks re-bled from the anti-coagulating effect of the venom.

 As it turned out he only had a "moderate" invenomation, and luckily no involvement of joint or muscle.  After 48 exhausting hours we were able to take a commercial flight back home to Salem, OR, where several days later he required surgery to debride the sloughed tissue on his leg.  A full recovery is under way.

Two weeks after our return, my colleague who has traveled literally all over the world with his children from diapers to college, slipped in his own bathroom, hit his head and sustained a life-threatening injury.  Last year, another colleague nearly lost his legs and his life on the last day of a  SCUBA diving trip--in the parking garage of the airport near his home when an out of control car pinned him between two bumpers.

I guess I don't understand risk, but it seems to be part of everything we do- or don't do.

--Beth Dayton, MD

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Comments

[Alice Brown]

Thanks for the real and surreal reminder that living on this planet is risky business. I survived the growth and removal of a cancerous skin tumor on my face, twice in the same place in two weeks. One friend told me I should stay indoors for the rest of my days. Thankfully, I had a great doctor that told me to wear sunscreen faithfully and go outside and enjoy everything. We are made to live, not to hide. My greatest accomplishment since? Riding my road bike to the top of a 14er in the Rcokies - with suncreen and a smile!

[Zuzana Kukol]

Thanks for this great letter putting things in real life perspective. I am a private owner of captive exotic animals. People like me get banned under the guise of public safety all the time, totally ignoring the facts that almost nobody dies as a result of captive exotic attack, and the few who do are owners/trainers, aka occupational/hobby hazard. It is all based on hysteria and fear of animals/nature. See more statistics here: http://www.rexano.org//Education.htm

[Loungemöbel]

Danke! Gruss Harry