How This Colorado Teen Saved Herself From Rattlesnake Bite
"I held my ankle, because you want to keep your heart rate down at first and just keep that venom from going through your system," said Kendal Vandenhoek.
This Colorado teen didn’t even know she had been bitten by a rattlesnake, but somehow knew exactly what to do.
Kendal Vandenhoek, of Monument, was discharged from the hospital this weekend. She is on crutches, but is expected to make a full recovery.
"They gave me full 10 vials of antivenom," Vandenhoek told KKTV. "The average dosage is four."
She said she was just walking around her family’s home when she felt a "prick" on her ankle.
"I just felt like I stepped on a thumbtack at first,” she said. “The only sensation I felt was an achy feeling or a tingling numbness all the way up to my knee, that’s about it.”
Kendal jumped back, and then noticed a rattlesnake coiled, flat and hissing.
“I always knew there were snakes here,” she explained. "I wasn’t sure if I’d been bit or not. So what I did then is I held my ankle, because you want to keep your heart rate down at first and just keep that venom from going through your system.”
Her family dialed 911, and Kendal was transported to the pediatric ICU to be treated for the bite.
They later discovered one fang ended up in her shoe and the other pierced her ankle.
While Kendal is lucky to have survived, first responders said staying calm was what saved her life.
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