Ethan Vogel, 11, was riding his mountain bike with his father in Colorado when he fell off of it right on top of a rattlesnake which sank its fangs into his chest causing the boy’s face, hands, and toes to immediately go numb.

(Video Credit: CBS Colorado)

Father and son had gone on an evening ride on the trails of North Table Mountain in Golden, Colorado on June 6, when tragedy struck. Ethan Vogel reportedly clipped a boulder and tumbled to the ground about 90 minutes into their journey. He, unfortunately, landed on a 30-plus inch prairie rattlesnake that bit him in the chest near his armpit.

His father, Zach Vogel, 41, who is a fitness trainer, sprung into action. He saw the blood stains on his son’s shirt. The father checked the wound and saw two puncture marks and knew what had happened.

He and his son had taken ice baths before and were familiar with trying to keep their heart rates down. He kept the boy calm and held him as he called 911. They waited for help to arrive and didn’t move which would only have caused the poison to circulate faster throughout the boy’s body. Rescue workers arrived nineteen minutes later and whisked the boy to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Littleton.

“I only saw the snake when I got back up. I was hoping it was a thorn, then we heard the rattle after it bit me,” Ethan recounted. “I was scared when I realized it had bitten me and then I couldn’t feel my face or my hands. Dad kept me calm, it was very helpful.”

11-Year-Old Bitten by Rattlesnake After Falling Off Bike on Colorado Trail: ‘He’s a Tough Boy’ https://t.co/gCRqaRalPj pic.twitter.com/woq3GqkDcH

— LoverFuLL-OBI (@LoverFuLL_OBI) June 14, 2023

“I was as terrified as any parent would be because you just don’t know how much time that they have, I didn’t want to lose him,” the father candidly stated, according to the New York Post.

“There’s other children that have been bitten that have collapsed in minutes and they’ve been unable to resuscitate them,” he noted. “He’s not trained to handle that level of stress and he knows how dangerous snakes are so he was afraid for his life.”

The poison from the bite started circulating immediately and the boy began throwing up. His heartbeat rose to 165 beats per minute and at one point on the way to the hospital spiked to 177 beats per minute.

“Laying in my arms and saying he’s not ready to die, as a dad, it’s the last thing you want to hear,” Zach Vogel said, according to WSAZ.

“He had a reason to fight and he trusted me. I was just praying to God that nothing bad would happen and that I wasn’t going to lose my son in my arms,” the father said.

Boy, 11, bitten by rattlesnake after falling off bike on Colorado trail: https://t.co/VPGl4som9f pic.twitter.com/ZfVPcTpVoh

— WAFB (@WAFB) June 12, 2023

When Ethan Vogel arrived at the hospital, he was given 16 vials of antivenom and other medications to stabilize him according to People. He was later transferred to Children’s Hospital Colorado.

“They put him on a 90-minute slow drip,” his father recalled. “We just watched and tried to keep him as comfortable as possible.

“Poison control showed up and they wanted to look at the wound and figure out where the venom was moving to,” he commented.

Three days after the event, Ethan Vogel is home with his brother and sister. He is expected to make a full recovery in approximately three weeks and is already hanging out with his friends again.

The boy can’t wait to get back on his bike and hit the trails again with his father.

“We’re not afraid of rattlesnakes, we’re just very aware of them and know the dangers,” the father remarked. “We learned to keep our distance and listen for the sound.”

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