Boy, 3, left paralysed by adder bite on family picnic
A BoY of three has been left temporarily paralysed after he was bitten by an adder on a picnic with his family.
Lewis Wise let out a ‘massive scream’ after he accidentally stepped on the venomous snake while playing.
His father, Daniel Wise, 39, told how he spotted the 18-inch adder and fang marks on the boy’s legs following the attack at Lightwater Country Park in Surrey.
Lewis was rushed to hospital where he was treated with three vials of anti-venom. But he remains bed-bound and unable to walk.
mr Wise, a scientist for the Department for environment, Food and rural Affairs as well as a snake enthusiast, told the Daily mail: ‘We were playing around in a green grassland bit of the park and I was joking and said, “Watch out Lewis, there could be snakes over there”.
‘Just as I said that, I heard a massive scream and realised he had been bitten.
‘I saw the snake and the size and I could identify it straight away... and then I saw the fang marks down on Lewis’s leg. He was in excruciating pain.’ Lewis spent the night at St Peter’s Hospital in Surrey before he was transferred to St George’s in London.
mr Wise, who keeps some of his 47 pythons and boas – which are non-venomous – at home in Addlestone, said his son will have to spend the next few weeks in hospital and have physiotherapy to help him walk again. The scientist, who also has a ten-month-old daughter, emily, with wife Nicole, 29, added: ‘The venom travelled all the way up to his leg to his stomach. I’m speaking to reptile experts and they say he’s on the right track...
‘Parents need to be aware of the dangers. A lot of people think that adders are not that bad, but if you’re bitten, it can be really serious.’
mr Wise said he was glad that Lewis’s ‘horrifying’ experience on Sunday had not put him off snakes. He added: ‘Yesterday they got him an etch A Sketch and he was drawing snakes on it. I said “when you’re out of hospital are you going to hold one of daddy’s nice snakes at home?” and he said “yeah, of course I will, dad”.
‘So hopefully he’s kept the same enthusiasm I’ve got.’