It’s kind of a big deal
Rattlesnake bites are pretty serious. We thought this was common sense, but that wasn’t the case for a Franklin, Tennessee man who nearly lost his finger after a rattlesnake bit him.
Austin McGee didn’t ever see what bit him, but it didn’t take long for it to become obvious that something was very wrong after it did.
He had never seen a rattlesnake around his home before, but we’re guessing he’ll keep an eye out for them from now on.
“It was just kind of a freak accident,” said McGee. “I honestly never thought that a rattlesnake bite was that big of a deal.”
Just a little sting
McGee and his friend Noah Hammer were doing some work in the woods during the time of the accident.
“I heard something, it sounded like a faint little rattle,” said Noah Hammer. “Must just be a bug or something because it wasn’t that loud.”
That was all the warning he was going to get.
“There was a bunch of metal right here so I reached down to pick it up,” McGee explained. “It didn’t hurt real bad, just like getting stung.”
It may have just stung a little, but the worst part was far from over.
It got very, very bad over the next few days.
This is getting pretty bad
“It progressively kept getting worse and then they popped it and it went back down and then the skin around it kept coming off,” McGee said. “It was like a throbbing, it was beating with my heart every time.”
Even though McGee didn’t take the bite seriously at first, he was able to get to the doctor in time to save his finger. They believe he’ll be able to fully recover.
McGee and his friends will take any snake bites much more seriously in the future.
“Just watch out, watch your step, and don’t pick stuff up unless you kick around it and look around it.”
