A 6 year old boy was bit by a copperhead at Lake Burton in Rabun County over the Memorial Day weekend, however the boy's snake knowledge may have saved his life.
Ford O'Neill was playing with some rocks near a bush when he unknowingly got near the copperhead. "I didn’t know it, but the snake was inside the bush, and the snake popped out, and it bit me on the pinky,” the child told Channel 2 News.
He received nine bags of anti-venom, almost five times the amount usually used for snaked bites at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. He was airlifted to the hospital after his parents called 911.
All the while, the television station said O'Neill kept calm and knew what to do. "We said, ‘What do we do Ford?’” his father, Andrew, told Channel 2. “He said, ‘I gotta keep my hand below my heart. I have to slow my heart rate.’ He knew all the steps.”
O'Neill left the hospital Tuesday and is recovering at his Fulton County home. O'Neill told the news station the bite wasn't going to deter him from his snake-themed birthday party in a few weeks, but he was going to limit his time outdoors for now.
