Rattlesnake Alert: Anthem 10-year-old bit along popular hiking trail

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Jacob Turner is back home, hanging out with friends, which is a pretty big deal considering what the 10-year-old just went through. “It was definitely the scariest thing of my life,” said Turner.

The fourth grader and his family and friends were hiking along the Black Canyon Trailhead last month when something painful happened. Turner was bitten on the leg by a western diamondback rattlesnake. “I heard the rattle. I jumped and then it bit me,” said Turner, who lives in Anthem.

“We just saw him running,’” said Kim Turner, the boy’s mother. “The other kids were down at the river, so we didn’t know what to think until we saw the blood and two puncture wounds, and then it hit us, OK, we’ve got to get help.”

A rescue chopper was flown to get the child and rushed him to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where he was given 28 units of antivenom. Jacob said the snake bite didn’t hurt at first, but then the pain set in and he started to feel weak. The swelling from the snake bite spread from his ankle up to his lower back. “When I got to the hospital it was swelling a lot, and swelling quickly,” said Jacob Turner. “They were taking measurements about every hour so I could never sleep for two days.”

The fourth grader spent four days in the hospital, and it took more than a week before he could walk again. The brave 10-year-old has now fully recovered but isn’t quite ready to go hiking again. “Right now, I am not going to go for a hike for a while,” said Jacob Turner. “But when I am ready, I’ll definitely make sure I watch out for snakes.”

Experts suggest staying alert at all times when out on a hiking trail, stay on designated trails, don’t wear headphones while hiking, don’t pick up a rattlesnake, and call 911 immediately if you get bit.

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