A trip to visit his parents in Northern California resulted in a near-deadly encounter with a rattlesnake for an Idaho man.
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Christopher Howarth, a father of three, was visiting his parents' home in Lake Oroville back in May when he went to inspect a leaking pipeline in the backyard.
While navigating through the dark, Howarth stepped on what he assumed was a plant. It wasn't until he was bitten in retaliation that he realized he had stepped on a rattlesnake.
"I got bit twice, and one of the bites, where it was, was kind of shallow, but the other one got my vein," Howarth told SFGate.
When he told his wife he was bitten by a snake, she initially thought he was pulling a prank. But when Chris showed his wife his leg, she and their young children started "freaking out."
Chris' wife Jenny Howarth immediately drove him to the Oroville Hospital about 15 minutes away. By the time they arrived, he was already showing signs of a reaction to the venom.
Upon arrival, his tongue was already numb, his lymph nodes were swollen and he had difficulty breathing.
Howarth received antivenom treatment within an hour, but still experienced life-threatening health complications.
Of the two snake bites, one was fairly shallow. However, the other punctured deep, causing the venom to inject "directly into his bloodstream," Jenny said.
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During his first couple of days in the hospital, Chris noted that the antivenom would work in spurts. After receiving treatment, his symptoms would subside before worsening again hours later.
His health took a turn for the worse on day three.
Chris developed a dangerous blood clotting condition, disseminated intravascular coagulation, leaving him at risk of bleeding out. He was getting platelets and antivenom to help control the condition. However, on day six, the hospital ran out of antivenom entirely.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to pull through. At one point, I wrote some letters to my kids to make sure they had one last letter from Dad," he told the news outlet.
Thankfully, after being transferred to Stanford Hospital, the injured father received a different anti-venom that helped permanently remedy his symptoms.
He has since returned to Idaho, where he is recovering at home.
"Chris has been unable to work during this time and for an unknown amount of time in the future as he is home and still healing," the family said in a fundraising plea, hoping to cover the expenses.
