Mother warns parents after child bitten by venomous snake

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - A 5-year-old South Georgian is fighting for her life after she was bitten multiple times by a venomous snake in Berrien County.

Her mother is asking for prayers from the community and shares an important message for other parents.

“The amount of times that snake bit her, was enough to kind of sedate an elephant at this point basically,” said Cynthia Spell.

Maisy Lamica from Valdosta was bitten by a timber rattlesnake, three times on her right calf.

Spell, her mother, tells us it all happened on Friday.

Maisy went to check on the house cat, who had cornered a snake by the tree.

“He looked over and she was hopping on one foot and as soon as he saw her hopping, he heard the rattle. So it didn’t rattle until after it bit her,” said Spell.

Spell tells me the kids were with their dad in Berrien County.

Maisy’s father immediately called 911.

Spell says things got bad really fast.

When the ambulance arrived, Maisy went into anaphylactic shock.

She says doctors don’t know if she’s allergic to the venom or the high dose.

Spell says Maisy’s body began shutting down on the way to the hospital.

“We got to the hospital and they were trying to reassure us she was going to be okay but, she just did not look anything okay at all. She was pale, vitals were immediately going down very fast. A very scary situation,” said Spell.

She says when Maisy arrived at South Georgia Medical Center, her lungs starting closing up, and her heart rate and blood pressure dropped.

Doctors intubated her, and she was life-flighted to Shands Hospital.

Spell says she’s received up to 37 vials of anti-venom.

“I’ve gone my whole life in Georgia and I’ve never encountered a snake. You tell your children there might be a snake.. there might be a snake.. but you never really have the opportunity to educate them, what to do if there’s a snake. You don’t really think that through.. as much as you should. I think that’s the overall lessons we got from all of this,” said Spell.

Spell says Maisy is now awake.

But her leg is getting worse and doctors are trying to save it.

She says the venom appears to be spreading to her thigh and it’s very swollen.

“I’ve never in my life experienced anything like it. Just pray. I mean, people ask us what can we do for you and really her body and the doctors have to do the rest,” said Spell.

Spell encourages parents to educate their kids on what to do if they encounter a snake.

And she asks for the community to keep praying for Maisy’s recovery.

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