Father and son were enjoying a nice evening at their family’s second home in the Texas Panhandle. They were planning to make some s’mores. But first, they needed to build a fire to roast their marshmallows over.
Trent Hadley and was gathering some firewood when his 2-year-old son, Parker was viciously attacked by a venomous snake.
“I reached down to hand him some firewood and I immediately saw the snake and it just got him,” Trent told CBS DFW. “We immediately grabbed him took him inside rolled him over saw that he was definitely bitten.”
Parker was standing over a patch of concrete and was wearing sneakers at the time. A baby rattlesnake had bitten the boy twice behind his leg. His foot and leg ended up swelling to three times its normal size. But Parker didn’t make a peep the entire time.
“He was not tearful, he was not screaming or hurting in pain,” his mom Amy said. “Luckily, we just saw the snake and knew what it was.”
Experts say that its the parents quick thinking that helped save their son. They decided to stop and take a photo of the snake that bit him before rushing him to the hospital.
“One of the most important things we learned was to identify the snake immediately so they know the best way to treat and so because we had that, we were able get the anti-venom going within an hour of the bite so we were rockin’ and rollin’ quickly,” said dad Trent told FOX 4.
The picture helped hospital staff give him the exact treatment he needed as soon as possible.
“We are definitely very fortuante and very blessed to be where we are today it could have been very different,” Amy said.
But the family was terrified for their son in the process.
“We just prayed from the very beginning that he would stay protected and get the care that he needed right away, and that’s what’s carried us through,” Amy told WFAA.
The parents also credited their “prayer warriors” whose well wishes helped the family to heal and endure this trying time.
“We’ve got a lot of prayer warriors out there and people keeping us in their thoughts and prayers and it’s definitely got us to where we are today,” she said.
Getting bit by a rattlesnake is much rarer and dangerous, according to officials at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. They see about 25 to 30 snake bite victims a year, most of which were bitten by copperhead snakes. They only see about five to six rattlesnake bites per year.
Lori Vinson, the senior director of trauma services, says that rattlesnake bites can do some serious damage.
“The venom itself is more toxic to the tissue, and to the mscle and to everything thats invovled ot the area so we have to montieor them more closely,” she said.
Parker received about 22 vials of anti-venom during his five-day stay in the hospital. He was able to recover thanks to the love of his parents, support of hospital staff, and about 28 screenings of the move “Zootopia.”
Herpetologist Carl Franklin says that snakes are active during the fall because the cooler temperatures bring about breeding season. Experts say that humans are coming into contact with snakes more often because we are encroaching into their territory by developing more land.
Snakes love to hang out in places that are dark like piles of wood and rocks. It’s important to wear proper shoes and clothing when heading into areas like this.
Snakes perceive humans as a potential threat through their eyes and heat-seeking sense. Franklin believes the snake attacked Parker out of fear.
“A rattlesnake at 14 inches lying on the ground is about an inch tall,” he said. “And so a 2-year-old compared to that is still like a 30-foot tall giant walking up on it. And the snake doesn’t know that the 2-year-old is a sweet kid.”
There are about seven types of venomous snakes in the Dallas-Forth Worth area and three of those are rattlesnake species, according to the University of Texas at Arlington herpetology department.
They say that about two people die each year from poisonous snake bites, according to the Star-Telegram. Learn more about Parker’s story in the video below.
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