DEADLY BITE
KAYAKING DAD IN TERRIFYING BRUSH WITH DEATH ADDER
AN Ingham fly-in, fly-out mine worker bitten by a death adder during a kayaking expedition has escaped death.
Father of three young children Ben Duffy, 32, was bitten by the highly venomous snake on a cane field headland in Abergowrie in rural Hinchinbrook as he was loading his kayak on to a vehicle at about 4pm on Wednesday.
Mr Duffy’s wife, Jenna, said that due to the length of time it took to get her husband to hospital, first Ingham and then Townsville, it was too late to administer antivenene.
“The doctors have told him that he’s got to wait it out because it was past the time they could administer antivenene, so he’s just got to wait it out,” she said.
Mrs Duffy said she had every faith in the actions of the paramedics and medical teams at Ingham and Townsville.
She said Ben, a mechanic at the Cannington Silver and Lead Mine in north-west Queensland, had finished kayaking with her father, Peter Kocica, when he was bitten on the ankle on the rural property about 30 minutes out of town.
Mr Kocica ripped off his shirt, applied a tourniquet and called an ambulance.
After transport to Ingham, Mr Duffy was transferred by ambulance to Townsville.
Mrs Duffy said her husband was in good spirits “until yesterday morning”, saying his eyes became droopy and he began to have difficulty swallowing,
She said he was unable to personally respond to the messages of support.
“(I) can’t thank everyone enough for all their help and offers of help,” she wrote.
Speaking to the Herbert River Express yesterday morning, Mrs Duffy said her husband was still conscious.
Mrs Duffy is the same age as her husband, sband, with both being in the e same grade at Ingham m State School.
Although not childhood sweethearts, they got together at age 19, were married two years later and have three children, aged 9, 8 and 5.
Mrs Duffy, who works ks for Palm Island Barge Company, said her husband was awell-liked man who was adored by his children, two boys and a girl who attend Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School Ingham.
“We’re OK, we’re going to be OK; we’ve ’ just got to wait, unfortunately,” she said.
A Townsville Hospital spokesman said the victim was in a stable condition but he could not comment on the specifics of an individual case without prior consent.
The spokesman said antivenene was available in Ingham.
“There is a protocol for administering antivenene locally or in Townsville,” he said.
“When he presented, the protocol was that the best way to treat him, the appropriate way to treat him, was in Townsville, rather than Ingham.”
The spokesman said that, without going into specifics, the treatment “was eminently sensible”.