An Australian woman was apparently bitten by a venomous snake after she stepped on it while at her Ubud hotel last month.
Renee Cunningham, says she didn’t immediately realize she had been bitten, but claims she “felt something slimy” and soon after felt shooting pain in her leg, which was “blistering and bubbling.”
The 34-year-old had been on vacation in Bali with her sister and was on the way to the hotel’s pool when she had her fateful encounter, according to Australian news reports.
“I looked down and saw it was a snake,” Cunningham said.
The mother of three was rushed to a clinic close to her hotel by staff, but because they didn’t have the antivenom she needed, she was sent to an Ubud hospital.
“By the time I got to the hospital my blood pressure was skyrocketing and I was vomiting and going unconscious,” she said.
“I was unwell for that whole night, and the antivenom (also) made me unwell,” she added.
Visiting the ER was definitely intimidating, but a godsend for Cunningham.
“The emergency ward was confronting and scary. There was no sheets and blood on the walls but the staff were amazing. They saved my life.”
Cunningham did have travel insurance, but as she had “chosen the cheapest, most basic option, it didn’t cover the $1,000 worth of hospital expenses.”
But “luckily, the resort paid the bills,” Australia Seven News reporter Rebecca Marsh said in a broadcast.
Cunningham stayed overnight at the hospital and was given a mixture of antivenoms (doctors weren’t sure which snake had bitten the Aussie) along with doses of antibiotics, steroids, and anti-inflammatories.
Cunnigham says she’s been in recovery the past month but she won’t let her experience keep her from visiting Bali again.
“I’ve had severe joint pains to the point I haven’t been able to walk properly and my blood pressure kept going up and down, but I’m all right now,” she said.
“It was a freak accident. It could have happened any where but the people were amazing.”
Given Bali’s lush, tropical landscape, snakes are not uncommon on the island, especially in Ubud. Watch your step and if you encounter one, it’s best if you leave it be, says a Bali reptile expert.
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