Young Ella Jearey and her mother Desireé were browsing in the courtyard behind Old Nick Village, Plettenberg Bay that afternoon. Ella was alongside a water feature when she suddenly exclaimed, "Eina!"
According to Desireé, she looked down and saw the snake with its mouth over her daughter’s toes and its tail coiled around her ankle. Her maternal instinct and some adrenaline instantly kicked in. She grabbed the snake by the tail, flicked it away from her child and proceeded to hit it with her handbag.
The snake casually made its way back under the water feature from which it had emerged.
A friend of the Jearey family immediately drove Ella and Desireé to the Plett Medi-clinic. Initially it was suspected that the snake in question was a puff adder and as such anti-venom was ready to be administered upon their arrival. Desireé said the doctor on duty had insisted that she be certain that it was indeed a puff adder that had struck Ella since administering anti-venom could be lethal if the culprit had not been a puff adder.
In the meantime, the snake at Old Nick Village had been found and taken it to Lawnwood Snake Sanctuary in the Crags for identification. Old Nick Village also sent a photo to Desireé's phone. The doctor immediately recognised the snake in the image as a night adder. He did not administer anti-venom, but rather bandaged the leg and administered pain medication before referring them to the Life Knysna Private Hospital, where Ella’s father, Craig, other family members and medical staff were waiting for their arrival.
Ella spent four days in the Intensive Care Unit and five days in the general ward before going home on Thursday, January 10. She was attended to by a doctor, a paediatrician and a physio-therapist. The hospital accommodated Ella’s parents so that they could stay with their daughter.
"Everyone was amazing. They were supportive and kind," said Desireé. "The staff at the hospital have all been fantastic. They have gone beyond the call of duty," she said. She was grateful for the support of family and friends during this trying time.
"It is no-one's fault," she said.
"To say that I’m not going to go to Old Nick because of a snake-bite would be like saying I’m not going to swim in the sea because of sharks."
Desireé said that her adrenaline had been pumping in order to manage the situation, to such a degree that she could only truly appreciate the gravity of the event on Tuesday night, January 8.
Ella and family are all safely home in Cape Town. While she has not yet started walking again, Ella is getting stronger every day.
Emily Caithness, owner of Lawnwood Snake Sanctuary, said, "Night adders are venomous but unlikely to be deadly."
Ella in hospital following a snake bite on January 2.
