An Arizona 15-month-old is recovering in the hospital after being bitten twice by a rattlesnake, according to her family.
Jacquelyn Reed told NBC affiliate KPNX that she and her daughter Cara were walking near their home in Florence, Arizona, when she was bitten. Reed claimed she walked away for ten seconds to throw out some trash, only to hear her daughter cry.
“[Cara] 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,” Reed described to KPNX. “I was terrified.”
She drove her daughter to the emergency room, and Cara was eventually airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital for treatment. Reed stated that Cara required 30 vials of antivenom treatment and had to be intubated.
Her mother described it as “difficult” to see her daughter’s “complications” from the bite. The toddler’s foot initially blackened and her oxygen levels dropped to 25%, but her mother told KPNX that Cara can now wiggle her toes and does not require a breathing tube.
“[Cara’s] the angel of the family,” Reed told KPNX. “Obviously, I hope that we can get full function back, that she can be back to her normal, happy, cute, adorable self.”
According to KPNX, Reed is unsure whether her daughter’s foot will regain full function. However, she stated that if she had not acted quickly following the bite, she is unsure whether her daughter would have survived.
A GoFundMe campaign to help cover Cara’s recovery expenses has already raised more than $7,000.
“She is a strong little girl and fighting so hard,” the GoFundMe description reads. “She has a whole community of people that love her.”