Abilene boy, 1, bitten by rattlesnake receives anti-venom, undergoes surgery
Abilene, Texas — The 1-year-old Abilene boy who was bitten by a rattlesnake has received 19 vials of anti-venom and undergone surgery.
Harrison Bakke is being treated at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth.
He was playing with his toys in the backyard Tuesday afternoon when he was bitten.
“The hard part is we normally go out and take a look around (for snakes),” said Harrison's mom, Erin Bakke. “The kids don't normally go out by themselves. They opened the door themselves while I wasn't in the room so, he went out ahead of me.”
Erin was heading outside when she heard Harrison scream.
"I didn't see the snake at first. I saw his (right) hand was bleeding, took him in, rinsed it off. It looked like a snake bite.," Erin said.
Erin found the snake on the patio against the house, next to their slide and toys.
She called 911 and the dispatcher told her to have Harrison sit down.
“They said, 'stop letting him walk around, sit down with him so that the venom didn't progress so quickly', Erin recalls. “Keeping him, calm is I guess the most important thing which is really really hard to do when they are in a lot of pain and you are restricting their body movements.”
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He was taken to Hendrick Medical Center and then flown to Cook Children's.
Doctors began to worry about the circulation in his right hand so they made two small incisions to release some of the blood and fluid.
Erin said the swelling has started to go down.
Harrison will receive another 6 vials of anti- venom before he's released.
The good news is he's expected to be okay.
