No good deed goes unpunished. A cyclist discovered the hard way that a snake doesn't change its nature even when given a helping hand. The cyclist tried to save the venomous snake from being runover. For his good deed, he got a bit and a trip to the ER instead.
Cyclist Dan Geiger could have potentially died from the venom. He was left with a gnarly purple and swollen finger after a copperhead snake bit him. The cuyclist saw the serpent along the New Jersey Palisades Cliffs. Fearing a car would run him over, the cyclist tried to help the critter. That's when the reptile bit him instead.
"I nudged it," Geiger told Fox 5. Bold last words indeed. "I just sort of nudged again, and I was just too close. My hand was just too close to its head, I guess, and it just struck me with precision and speed."
From there, you can probably imagine how this story plays out. The cyclist needed some saving of his own after the snake bit him. Fortunately, two by-standers stopped and helped Geiger reach emergency services. No, he didn't bite them for their good deed. Although that would have been a bizarre and hilarious twist to this entire thing.
Venomous Snake Attacks Man
First responders rushed Geiger to a nearby hospital. The team there administered antivenom to stop the effects of the bite. But that still didn't stop his finger from turning all sorts of shades of nasty.
"Once you get antivenom, I think people expect that it's like this miracle cure where all of a sudden like everything goes back to normal," Dr. Daria Falkowitz, director of the Division of Medical Toxicology at Hackensack University Medical Center, told Fox 5. "It just stops things from getting worse, and so whatever tissue damage has already occurred prior to receiving it, is there. Though initially it doesn't look bad, the damage has been done, so we expect some progression over a day or two."
The cyclist spent two days in the hospital. He still hasn't been able to use his hand due to the damage done.
"They most of the time avoid people," Dr. Falkowitz told the outlet. "It's more of a risk for like little kids and pets that you want to try and keep out of there and try not to specifically reach for them."
Best to leave sleeping snakes lie or something like that.
