A Northern California hospital exhausted its entire supply of anti-venom while trying to save a father of three who was bitten twice by a venomous rattlesnake.
Christopher Howarth, who lives in Idaho, was visiting his parents at their Lake Oroville home in May when he went into the backyard to inspect a leaking pipeline.
As he moved through a shaded area, Howarth stepped on what he believed was a plant — only to realize it was a rattlesnake.
“I got bit twice, and one of the bites, where it was, was kind of shallow, but the other one got my vein,” Chris Howarth told SFGate.
His wife, Jenny, rushed him to Oroville Hospital, but his condition was already worsening rapidly: his tongue became numb, his lymph nodes swelled, and his breathing began to deteriorate.
Doctors treated him with anti-venom, but by the third day, his medical crisis had become even more serious.
Howarth developed a rare blood-clotting disorder, and his thigh continued to swell as hospital staff administered every available dose — ultimately using 54 vials of anti-venom.
By the fifth day, the hospital had run out. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to pull through. At one point, I wrote some letters to my kids to make sure they had one last letter from Dad,” he told the outlet.
The NorCal hospital immediately transferred him to the Stanford Hospital where he received a different anti-venom that helped alleviate his symptoms.
Howarth is now back in Idaho with his family after 12 grueling days in the hospital.
“Chris has been unable to work during this time and for an unknown amount of time in the future as he is home and still healing,” the family said in a fundraising plea, hoping to cover the expenses.
