A family in Arizona is playing a tense waiting game after their daughter was bitten by a rattlesnake. The toddler, Cara Reed, remains hospitalized and fighting for her life after the bites. She has gotten dozens of antivenom treatments as doctors monitor the effects. The whole experience has been the result of a freak incident, but that doesn’t make things less harrowing for the family. Now, the only thing they can do it wait and see what the future will hold.
Jacquelyn Reed was outside the family’s home in Florence with 15-month-old Cara when the incident happened. She told 12 News that she went to throw away a piece of trash, leaving the toddler alone for seconds. That’s when she heard the little girl begin to cry.
When she returned, Cara Reed “had four puncture wounds on the top of her foot, in the little window of her little jelly shoe, and behind her, to her left was a snake coiled up,” the mom explained.
Thinking quickly, Reed picked up her daughter and rushed her to the nearest emergency room. Within an hour, the little one’s foot began to turn dark and she was vomiting blood. She then passed out. The girl was airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital for treatment.
“She’s had 30 vials of antivenom so far,” Reed explained.
Currently, it still isn’t clear if Cara will regain use of her foot. And in addition to that, the little girl has been having problems breathing. There were points where her oxygen levels were at 25%, requiring her to be intubated. Her mother says it’s “really difficult to watch all of her complications.”
A relative has started a GoFundMe for the family, and shared that she was recently able to have her breathing tube taken out. “Cara is now aware enough to make eye contact and is getting upset when Mom goes out of her sight,” an update says.
While the family knows recovery will be long, Reed is thankful for her quick thinking. “It was really about the response of moving quickly that I think saved her life,” she said. Right now, the family is just happy that the “angel of the family” is alive.
“Obviously, I hope that we can get full function back, that she can, you know, be back to her normal, happy, like cute, adorable self.”
