Quick-Thinking Mom Saves Son From Venomous Snake Bites

An Australian boy survived not one, but two bites from a deadly brown snake, thanks to his well-prepared and quick-thinking mom, The Courier-Mail reported.

Sonya Mayhew used an expert tourniquet technique to stop her 4-year-old son Dysen from receiving a lethal dose of the snake's venom, which is capable of killing an adult in just 10 minutes.

The drama unfolded last Friday when Dysen accidentally stepped on the brown snake in the Mayhews' back yard. It bit him on both his left ankle and right foot.

Luckily, Mayhew knew exactly where and how tightly to apply the bandages that stopped the venom from reaching Dysen's lymphatic system.

She kept compression bandages at home and quickly wrapped her son's legs from his feet to his upper thighs. Mayhew also kept the boy still and calm in an effort to keep his blood pressure as low as possible.

After he was rushed to Brisbane's Mater Children's Hospital, doctors confirmed the bites were from a brown snake and kept Dysen under observation in the intensive care unit for 24 hours until he was out of danger.

In the end, no anti-venom had to be administered.

"If you live anywhere near snakes, you need to have compression bandages in your house, your car, everywhere,'' Mayhew said.
"We are a bit paranoid about it here (in the Brisbane suburb of Thornlands)."

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