A father recently faced a parent’s worst nightmare when his young daughter experienced a life-threatening situation.
Addie, a 3-year-old girl, was bitten on her left hand in Santa Clarita while she eagerly ran to grab a present from an Amazon package. Unbeknownst to her, a Southern Pacific rattlesnake was lurking beneath a brown padded envelope, as her father, Manuel, later explained.
“Lynn quickly took Addy to a grocery store parking lot to meet up with the fire department and an ambulance. She received her first dose of anti-venom at a local hospital but had to be transferred to another facility with a pediatric intensive care unit,” Manuel recounted.
“Addie required two additional doses of anti-venom and spent two nights in the hospital. I was away for work when all of this happened, but returned as soon as I could to be with Lynn and Addie,” he added.
Due to the incident, Barajas had to take about a week off to support his wife and daughter during this trying time. The medical expenses for the anti-venom and pediatric ICU care have added financial strain to their lives.
“We are doing everything in our power to help Addie heal, but the costs are overwhelming. We never expected to find ourselves in this situation, and asking for assistance feels difficult, yet we really need support during this challenging period,” Barajas shared.
A GoFundMe page was created on Sunday evening, which has so far raised $200 of its $4,500 target.
This year, California has seen several rattlesnake incidents. Just a few months ago, a 25-year-old mountain biker in Irvine lost his life after being bitten. In another case, a man visiting from Idaho was bitten twice on the leg and faced $1.3 million in medical bills after receiving 54 vials of antivenom.
In March, a woman hiking in Ventura County was also bitten by a rattlesnake and sadly passed away.
Each year, between 7,000 and 8,000 individuals are bitten by venomous snakes in the U.S., but only about five fatalities occur. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this statistic highlights the gravity of snake encounters.
