A dad's venture into the outdoors has turned into a nightmare after he was bit by a venomous snake. It's left him with a leg the size of an "elephant."
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The incident happened in the United Kingdom on May 1. A father named Zak Brown had been paddleboarding with his buddy at the Cavenham Heath National Nature Reserve in Suffolk, England.
That's when disaster struck. Brown stepped onto a grassy bank, startling an adder, which is the only venomous snake in the country.
"As I climbed off my paddleboard, I walked up the grass verge and within seconds of standing there I just felt this bang on the back of my left ankle," Brown said. "I jumped up because of the pain and saw this snake hanging from my ankle."
The venomous snake had been a foot and half long. Brown quickly realized that the reptile had bitten him on the leg. "The pain was instant — it was just burning," he said.
Dad's Leg Swells Up From Snake Bit
It took more than two hours to get back to their car. During that time, the bite of the venomous snake began to take hold. "Within half an hour, my foot started to swell up around my ankle," Brown said. "The pain was spreading up my leg. I thought I might have to phone the air ambulance."
When they reached land, Brown could no longer walk with swelling reaching his groin. "I couldn't even stand on my leg — I just fell straight over," he said. "My whole foot and calf were swollen like an elephant. The pain was unbearable."
Doctors treated him at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge with antivenom. They said he was extremely lucky to be alive.
"They said if the snake was a full-grown adult, it could've been a different story, and I was lucky in that sense," he said. However, it took days for the swelling to go away afterwards. "I couldn't get anything back on my foot for four or five days."
The incident has left him with lasting trauma.
"I must've stood on it to scare it that bad and it just hit me with its venom straight away," he explained. "Now I'm non-stop cautious of snakes, constantly looking around the grass checking because I don't want it to happen again."
