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Hospitalized Boy Doing Well After Water Moccasin Bite

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 10, 2007

TAMPA - Jake Hoffman sat in a hospital bed, his left leg a sickly blue and swollen enough to stretch the skin taut.

The purple numbers written in ink up his shin just seemed to add to the misery.

Jake was bitten by a water moccasin Sunday afternoon. The two puncture wounds are about an inch apart on the top of his arch. Jake didn't want to talk about the ordeal. Tears welled up in his eyes when he was asked to recount the event.

The 7-year-old Corpus Christi Catholic School first-grader will get through the test of his kid-toughness. Doctors in the pediatric intensive care unit of University Community Hospital on Fletcher Avenue made sure of that.

Jake was running around barefoot at a friend's home in the Kingshyre subdivision around 3 p.m. Sunday when he bolted past some brush and felt a sting on his foot, but thought he was caught by a thorn, said his father, John.

John Hoffman was nearby and got a frenzied call from a neighbor saying Jake had been bitten by a snake and that paramedics were on the way. John Hoffman said his friend walked back outside, and the 4-foot, fat-as-a-forearm water moccasin was still there, coiled at the edge of a yard.

"The snake stood its ground," Hoffman said. He rushed over to find his son with a quickly swelling foot that was turning purple. He began to get concerned when Jake began "falling asleep and getting light-headed in the ambulance. As a parent, you don't know what a snake bite can do."

Especially to a 7-year-old boy, he said. The bite wasn't as painful as he thought it would be, he said. It hurt to touch it or move it, but if it was propped up and undisturbed, Jake could handle the pain, Hoffman said.

The swelling worked its way up the leg, as doctors administered antivenin that specifically treats pit viper bites. Doctors in the intensive care unit marked Jake's leg with a purple pen every few hours to show the rate of swelling progression. By this afternoon, it had slowed, and doctors were pulling back on the intravenous antivenin treatments.

"It worked its way up his leg," John Hoffman said, "but he'll be OK. He'll make a full recovery."

The lesson, he said "is make sure your kids have shoes on even in their own backyards. And don't touch snakes. Or you'll end up like Jake."

Although the viper held its ground for a while, when paramedics went looking for it to make a positive identification, it was gone, Hoffman said.

Jake will spend a couple of more days in the hospital, said Mariano Fiallos, the pediatric care physician treating the boy. The hospital treats about five or six snakebite victims a year, he said, mostly pygmy rattlesnakes. Seldom does someone come in with a water moccasin bite.

"This is the first I've seen," he said. The same antivenin is used to treat both rattlesnake and moccasin bites, he said.

Jake's mother, Maria, came the hospital this afternoon and held the boy's hand as he broke down and cried.

"When 911 told us not to go anywhere and to keep him still, that was a little scary," she said. "I think we were all in shock."

Hospital spokesman Will Darnall said that Jake remained in fair condition this afternoon.

"He's a cute kid," Darnall said, "a tough kid."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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