Experienced bushwalker Helen Worrell says carrying a first-aid kit, combined with the swift actions of bystanders and emergency crews, “absolutely saved my life” after she was bitten twice by an eastern brown snake measuring more than two metres.
Ms Worrell was walking with her husband and brother in Morton National Park near Ulladulla, southern NSW the day after Boxing Day when the incident occurred. She said she stepped aside on the Florence Head Track to allow a young couple to pass when a “fat, big” snake struck the back of her leg. Walking in single file, her husband inadvertently stepped on the snake, causing it to lash out at her.
She did not initially see the snake, but turned to find it coiling around her husband’s ankle and foot before he managed to shake it off and it disappeared into the bush. Only then did the seriousness of the situation sink in.
“I turned to my brother and said, ‘He bit me, I got bitten,’ and he said, ‘I know,’” she recalled.
Ms Worrell later learned she had been bitten twice by the brown snake, though the wounds initially looked like a scratch and felt similar to a dog nip. The couple she had stepped aside for immediately sprang into action, calling Triple Zero as she slipped in and out of consciousness.
Using bandages from Ms Worrell’s backpack, they applied pressure to her leg to slow the spread of venom. Emergency crews coordinated a rapid response, retrieving antivenom from nearby Milton Hospital and delivering it by rescue helicopter.
“It was 50 minutes from bite to antivenom,” she said. “That absolutely saved my life.”