My mom, the ranking medical pro-
fessional on the scene, drew the drugs
into syringes. But when Yardley asked
her to start an IV, she paused. “I don’t
feel comfortable doing that,” she said.
“I’m a PA, but I’m a mom first.”
So Yardley stuck a 16-gauge
needle—essentially a medical rail-
road spike—into each of my arms. The
drugs worked. I hurt less and stopped
purging, and the IV rehydrated me.
Finally, at 1:11 p.m., approximately
80 minutes after I was bitten, a heli-
copter took off from Paso Robles, an
hour and 45 minutes away. The team
from El Portal loaded me onto an in-
flatable backboard, and I mustered
a smile when they put aviator sun-
glasses on me to protect my eyes. We
even snapped a family photo, with
Turin, Bridger on her chest, giving a
thumbs-up and me looking like smil-
ing death. When the helicopter was
20 minutes away, the team carried me
to the helicopter pickup point.
“If we don’t get him out of here now,
we’re going to have a critical patient on
our hands, and I don’t have the meds
to deal with him,” Yardley told Mon-
toya. The drugs had run their course,
and my symptoms had returned. Then
a bee stung my thigh. Panicking, I told
them I was allergic. Yardley told some-
body to get an EpiPen.
“Please don’t,” I pleaded, afraid the
epinephrine could agitate the snake
venom. Yardley gambled that if I hadn’t
gone into anaphylaxis yet, I wouldn’t.
As the brush beat about in the cop-
ter’s downdraft, a cable was lowered
about 200 feet. I felt myself tugged up
from the ground, and a surge of relief.11:45 A.M.rd.com 105Drama in Real LifeMy parents, both trained in search and rescue, jumped into action as soon as
the snake bit me (its fangs left puncture marks). Soon medics arrived to help.