LONOKE COUNTY, Ark. (KARK) — Watching her daughters play outside, it’s the first day in a week that this Lonoke County woman has been able to stand without any kind of support.
“The copperhead struck me right there,” says Danna Schaffer.
Danna was bitten by the snake in her neighborhood north of Austin at the corner of Happy Trail and Copper Lane.
“It was pretty paralyzing. I couldn’t really walk,” says Danna.
She was walking on the street with her two daughters when Copper Lane lived up to its name.
“They were walking behind me but I had turned to walk backward so I could see them and the two steps I walked backward [it happened],” says Danna.
Her 10-year-old daughter, Keeley Schaffer, says she tried warning her mom but there wasn’t enough time.
“I yelled there is a snake right there and she thought we were joking with her,” says Keeley.
Keeley says the snake bite has changed the way she looks out not only for snakes, but for her baby sister and mom.
“To be in the pain that my mom was in,” she says.
Danna immediately went to the hospital after the bite.
“Things could have been a lot worse,” says Danna.
She should make a full recovery.
According to the Centers of Disease and Control (CDC), up to 8,000 people are attacked by venomous snakes each year.
About five of those 8,000 people die from their injuries.
CDC officials say people’s quick action to seek medical attention prevents death.
