In a scary bit of news, a 7-year-old girl went more than 30 hours without her or her family realizing a rattlesnake bit her. She nearly lost her leg as a result. The incident happened in Arizona,
7-year-old Allie Brasfield and her family visited Gilbert Regional Park on Monday, Sept. 16. She went jogging along a canal and ended up taking a fall. During the commotion, no one realized that a rattlesnake had bitten her. Arizona's Family said no one saw the snake.
"It didn't hurt right away," Allie said, per NBC affiliate KNPX. Amber Brasfield, her mother, later claimed, "No one saw a snake, no one heard a rattle."
In fact, the 7-year-old was able to finish the hike around the park without issue. However, she soon began to complain that her ankle hurt. Fast forward to the family going home, her ankle began to swell. Apparently, there were no other signs of a snake bit. Allie's mom claimed "there was no puncture wounds" on her daughter's ankle.
Rattlesnake Bite
The family assumed that she had a sprained ankle before the hospital revealed the devastating truth. "It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through, seeing your child crying in pain and you can't do anything about it," Amber said, per Arizona's Family. Inititally, the doctors misdiagnosed her.
Her GoFundMe campaign read, "Her parents were unaware of the bite, no one saw the snake and there were no bite marks, and they thought it was a sprained ankle. After an hour, her pain worsened, and her parents took her to the nearest Children's Hospital. She had X-rays and was told to go home. Time went by, and her leg worsened, so her parents took her to another hospital. That hospital couldn't find any problems. She was misdiagnosed until they arrived at Phoenix Children's Hospital, where she received the diagnosis of a rattlesnake bite. She went 30 hours from bite to diagnosis."
The young child has a long way to go after the rattlesnake bite.
"They're hoping that just with physical therapy and occupational therapy that she will be able to make full recovery," the mom explained, per Arizona's Family. "Nothing about her case is normal."
