Community Corner

East County Teen Survives Multiple Rattlesnake Bites

Vera Oliphant, a junior at Chaparral High School, was recently sent home after spending several days at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa.

A 16-year-old girl bitten six times when she stepped into a rattlesnake nest in Jamul was recovering at home, afters spending several days in a La Mesa hospital.

Vera Oliphant was bitten Oct. 27 and given 24 doses of antivenin to counteract the poison.

She had just walked out of an uncle's home and up a hill, hoping to get a cellular telephone signal, she told the U-T San Diego.

Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After stepping on a pile of weeds and twigs, she saw an adult rattler and four babies bite her right foot, she said.

Oliphant, a junior at Chaparral High School in El Cajon, made her way back to the house, and her uncle took her to Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, where she spent several days in the intensive care unit.

Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I thought I was going to die," she told the U-T, adding that she saw "a dark tunnel" as the rattlesnake venom coursed through her.

–City New Service


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