A woman in California feels lucky to be alive after a rattlesnake bit her. Linda Martin of Stevenson Ranch was tending to her roses along the driveway of her home when the animal struck without warning, causing her to scream for her husband as she raced back into the house. Martin attempted to dial 911 several times using her cellphone, but after it didn’t connect, her husband took the matter into his own hands.
Woman tried dialing 911 three times but it didn’t go through
Over the late July weekend, Martin was about to snip a rose in her garden when a rattler nipped her in the foot, as shown on home security footage that she shared with CBS LA.
The woman sprinted back home, yelling for her husband, as she felt the venom course through her body.
“Within 30 to 45 seconds, I started feeling tingling in in my fingertips,” Martin recalled. “It moved into my jaw, my cheeks, my tongue.”
The woman was on the floor of her home as she tried to dial 911. However, the spotty cell service in the area made the calls fail to connect. By the third attempt, her husband would not wait any longer and told her to “get in the car.”
He drove her to the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in less than ten minutes, and Martin immediately received antivenom at the emergency room.
The woman says it was fortunate that her husband was around during the attack. She said, “Had my husband not been home, and I was her alone, I don’t know what would have happened.”
After learning her lesson the hard way, Martin will be much more careful while tending her roses and “certainly won’t go gardening without wearing boots.” She intends to fight for better cell service in her area in Santa Clarita Valley and is looking into getting a landline again for emergencies.
