September 5, 2024 • 22 mins
Stuart Forrest from Singleton Heights is a lucky guy.
He takes us step by step through what happens when you are bitten by a brown snake, and what not to do! And he is truly grateful for the council crew that saved him.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeart a hunter. I remember one of them saying, are
uka mate? And I said, and I think the last
thing I said snake bite. And that was it.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Have you ever wondered what happens when you're bitten by
a brown snake? Well, on this episode, we're going to
find out. Hello, I'm Darren KATRUVII and meet Stuart Forrest.
He's a very lucky guy. He's recovering from being bitten
by a brownie in his backyard at Singleton Heights ten
days ago, but he felt well enough to invite me
(00:32):
into his home to share his remarkable survival story. Especially
with summer and snake season not too far away. Stuart's
story is all the more remarkable as he managed to
cheat death after doing all the wrong things. So Stuart,
please set the scene and spare us no details.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I was in the backyard of around lunchtime. I was
just doing a little bit of tidying up in the
backyard and I happened to be in just a bit
of a bushy area and I happened to step on
what I thought was a stick. I felt a sharp,
like a needle prick in my leg. I looked down,
(01:14):
sort out of my peripheral vision realized it wasn't a stick,
and saw what looked to be a brown snake taking
off and took off into the bush. It looked to
be quite like a young snake, a juvenile.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Perhaps I've had a look at the area.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
We're not talking about a massive, overgoing bushy grass area
that hasn't been maintained where you'd expect to find a snake.
This is just a standard suburban backyard.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Garden, correct, correct, Yeah, man, it's a fairly large yard
and we do need to maintain it. But yeah, and
I'd had to mode the lawn on the weekend, so
I was just, I guess, finishing up that, and it
was Yeah, it was just completely out of the blue, unexpected.
I imagine perhaps whatever it was doing was maybe sunning itself,
(01:58):
and I just didn't say it.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You do what most iz he's doing the backyard. You
were wearing thongs, which is probably not a great idea
in midsight.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I was, I was. I normally wear boots when I'm
out there mowing, obviously, you know, I do try to
wear the appropriate footwear. But yeah, I was just taking
a break and I thought i'd just quickly go out
there and tidy a few things up, so I didn't
give it a second thought.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You felt that pain, that bite or that needles sort
of type feeling. Did you get pain straight away or
how long before that started?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
No real pain as such, it just it was more
of a bit of a shock. When I realized what
it was, I thought, this is not good. I'm on
my own. So there wasn't any real pain, but I
knew but I felt it. If anything, it felt like
a little prick and you know, like and like maybe
(02:53):
a head butt sort of thing, and that was it,
like a tap if you like. I pretty much thought
better try and get some help. So it's like a
sort of snake correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. Yeah,
So it doesn't it's not what a lot of people
might think. It's not a sharp, painful thing. I've even
(03:14):
heard of some people didn't even know that they they've
actually been bitten. So I was fortunate enough to actually
see it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Stewart says it didn't take long for panic to set
in and all logical thinking to disappear.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
While I did everything that you're not supposed to do
from all the people that I've spoken to, because normally
when something like that happens, you should sit down, be quiet,
and mobilize. I guess I kind of panicked. I'm a
bit of a city boy, so I'm not used to
more rural areas, so I've not really had anything to
do with snakes. Obviously, I know they're dangerous, but yeah,
(03:51):
I pretty much and anything said. It's a fair distance
from the where I was to the front door, but
no one else was here. No one else will hear
my wife. She works in the mines, so she was
out driving big trucks in a pit so I had
no phone, couldn't call her. She has no phone reception.
Obviously you think call an ambulance, but you know, I
(04:13):
just had one hundred things going through my head. I
even have a venom bandage up on the kitchen bench.
Didn't even think to grab that. So my thought was
just try and get to some help. I thought, not
too far away from the hospital. Stupid me thought I
would go and drive there.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And Stuart quickly realized that driving himself to hospital maybe
wasn't a great idea.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Made it as far as the stairs to the front door.
I put the keys down, thought I don't feel well.
I walked outside to front door to where my front
lawn is, and then I believe I was ill from
what I was told. I was vomiting and then I
(04:58):
had some sort of a seizure and don't recall anything
after that until I got to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So collapsed on his front doorstep. Stuart got lucky, very lucky,
enter a group of council staff who just happened to
be working on the road outside his house.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
There was council workers from Singleton Council out the front.
They had been fixing up the roadway and the gutter
and they've been there all week. So I went out there.
I saw them and I kind of I remember one
of them saying, are uka mate, And I said, and
I think the last thing I said snake bite and
that was it. And I kind of remember voices and
(05:35):
stuff like that after that. Whether that was them or
the ambulance people, I don't know, but yeah, it was.
It was pretty Yeah, I was pretty blurry.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
So what we had told happened. The council workers obviously
contacted the ambos, and.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yes, they contacted the ambulance. They said it was an
urgent thing. I don't know whether they told them what
snake it was or I told them inadvertently, whether I
was because I was incoherent, I believe they wrapped a bandage,
and yeah, I found out later that the council workers
(06:13):
don't have snake bike bandages, which you know, I think
probably should. Maybe that might be good for something for
them down the track to have that in their truck seed. So,
but they had what they had and they rendered. First day.
I was told that they put me in a recovery position.
I do remember one of the council workers rubbing my
head and just trying to keep me cool and just
(06:35):
telling me it's all right, stay with me, Stay with me.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
I think if you think of your beautiful wife, you know,
and and that was one of the things I do remember,
and I thought, well, you know, that's if that's the
last thought I ever have, is my wife and my
son who's six years old, And if that's the last
thort I ever have, then it's not a bad thought.
But that was the last thort I had. Next thing
I know, I was in hospital.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
As the venom took hold. Stewart says he's never experienced
so much pain, uncontrollable shaking all over his body by
now he was in emergency.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
You wake up in hospital? Was that because you were
taken to Singleton Hospital initially?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Is that where you wake up or yeah, correct, that's
where I wake up And I was being treated by
It felt like it was like twenty people in the room.
When I came to, they explained what had happened, and
I'd had a couple of seezes and they give me
some medication for that. They were informed by toxicologists at
(07:38):
the Martyr Hospital who were actually watching me through cameras,
which I thought was that's pretty good technology. I didn't
know that. They said, we don't know one hundred percent
what snake it is, so give him both Andy venoms.
So they gave me brown snake, so the canular in
my left arm and then my right arm. They gave
(07:59):
me the tiger snake Andy Bannham, just just in case,
and they said, look we need to also that needs
to run over about twenty odd minutes, and they said, look,
we've got adrenaline here as well, because sometimes you can
have an anaphylactic reaction. So they were waiting for it
to run through before they were willing to transport me.
(08:21):
And then I had a doctor who was staying with
me the whole time. She was amazing. She was from
westpac she was a flight retrieval doctor, and she was
explaining to me, and she just kept asking me every
few seconds, are Uka are you okay? And I was yeah, yeah,
but it was hard. I couldn't talk. Everything was twitching,
my muscles, everything was twitching. And I had what could
(08:44):
be described as from anyone who suffers from migraine, something
even worse than that. It was just horrible.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Were you conscious enough through that period to think am
I going to survive this? Or were you just sell
out of it?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I was. I came in and out eventually, I think
I remember, and I think I even looked up at
one stage and a couple of people said are you right?
Are you okay? You're right? And I sort of just nodded.
I didn't really verbally respond. I just like I found
it really painful to talk. One of the things that
(09:19):
really got me was very very sensitive to lights. So
I have found it hard to keep my eyes open
because I just just my eyes. It just hurt my head.
So I have my eyeshut a lot of the time,
so a lot of the stuff it was just I
could hear what was going on, and I could hear
them getting instructions on how to administer the anti venom.
(09:41):
But they just worked so well together and everyone was
just looking out for my well being and to make
sure that I was okay. You know, the doctors, the nurses,
the amboser that they were just they were amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Stewart says he was forced to think about his mortality
again when it was time to be transferred down to
Newcastle for more specialist treatment.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
It was weird. I remember being driven down to the
helipad because it was a bit bumpy, and I think
that the flight retrieval doctor was in there with me,
and I kind of remember saying something about just be
careful his heart rates going up. I remember that, and
then I think I kind of went out again, and
(10:27):
then I sort of remember being put into the helicopter
and I had to ask them later how they put
me in, because because they put you in sort of,
you know, from the side head first. But when I
woke up at John Hunter Landing, my feet were facing
the back of the helicopter, so I worked out as
actually what they did was they actually lift you up
(10:49):
with a winch inside the helicopter and then turn you around,
which is pretty cool. So kind of remember taking off.
I don't remember much of the flight. I do rememb
remember the landing was when they opened the door, it
was quite windy and it was actually quite nice. Cool
air hit me because I was quite hot. And then
they said, what we're going to do is we're going
(11:09):
to put you in an ambulance. We're going to transport
you down to the Marta. So the decision was made
by the doctors at the Martyr to fly me there
because originally they were going to drive me to the
Martyr by raid ambulance, but I think they were concerned
about perhaps my vitals or maybe the sieges I had,
and they wanted me there quickly. They ran blood tests
(11:32):
very quickly, and then they were running them every six hours.
They took swaps of the area of where I was bitten.
It gave me ivy fluids, and obviously, you know, checking
how the anti venom was going. The worst part was
probably the pain where my muscles were still twitching, But
the worst part was my headache. My headache was just NonStop.
(11:54):
I think I must have finally fell asleep sometime around
later around midnight, and then I woke up at one
thirty because they needed to do blood And then that
was the first time I was actually able to wake
up and sit up. My head had actually finally stopped pounding,
and they said, your bloods are starting to look better.
And as the day went on, I went back to sleep,
(12:15):
and then in the morning I woke up and I
actually had some breakfast. I actually felt a lot better.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Was that the first time you thought I've got through
the worst of this.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah. And the toxicologists they were they were brilliant. There
was two of them, and they both just said look
because they saw me originally when I got there, and
then they saw me the first thing in the morning
and they said, look, everything's looking okay. You know, we're
just keep an eye on some of the some of
your symptoms. In their words, they said, because you got
(12:43):
everything so quickly the end, you and them so quickly,
we don't believe there's any real damage. And that's and
that's basically, you know, the crux to it. It was,
it was extremely fast efficient and because everyone worked so
well together, they were able to you know, prevent me
getting I guess, you know, seriously injured.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
From all of this stay with us, the mad rush
to Newcastle for Stuart's wife and son, and a heartfelt
thank you for the council workers who saved his life.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I heart upper Hunter, I heart Apper Hunter.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I'm DARRENK Trupy and more. Now of my conversation with
Stuart Forrest in his home at Singleton Heights, ten days
after his near death experience from being bitten on the
ankle by a brown snake. By now Stuart is at
Newcastle's Martyr Hospital and wondering if anyone's managed to contact
his wife.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Now while this is going on, your wife's happily just
working away in minds on the dump truck. How did
how long before she found out and was able to
come down?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
So I'm not one hundred percent sure how long it took.
I think I know whether I gave them the number,
because I did have my phone with me and I said,
I ring, this is the number to ring. It's mount
and dispatch and they all call her from what from?
She told me that she spoke to the council worker
(14:18):
and then she spoke to the special operations paramedic at
the hospital at a separate time. Now, I believe when
she was out in the pit. The dispatch were trying
to call her, and her boss actually drove out into
the pit and said, we're trying to get a hold
of you because it's not great reception. You just said
(14:39):
you need to come, and she's like, oh, what's wrong.
Your husband's been bitten by a snake. So yeah, she
didn't really react or anything, because I think she was
in a bit of shock. The one thing I do
remember was because like you like you do, you know,
because we're relatively new to the area, we've got to
you know, we're making friends. But we didn't have anyone
(15:00):
to pick up my son. So I do remember being
in the ed Ward just before we left for the helicopter.
I said, someone's got to pick my son up. He's
at you know, the school, and they said, it's all right,
we're taking care of that. We're speaking to your wife.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
That's how I knew that they were speaking to her
on the phone. And I remember the ambulous guy saying,
do you want to talk to your husband? And she's
like nai apparently, And I thought, oh, that's nice, you
don't want to talk to you my deathbed here, But
I was just but no, I think I think it
was just she needed to focus on, you know what,
(15:36):
what she was doing, and she's very good at that.
She's you know, she's a very intelligent person. She just
you know, you can always rely on her in a crisis.
She's very systematic and when things go wrong, she automatically
goes into this mode of just doing everything one step
at a time. And yeah, I was still groggy obviously
(15:56):
at the Martyr And when I wake up, she was there.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
What's the first thing your wife said to you?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Not much. I don't really remember what she said. I
think she just gave me a hug, and yeah, she
just I think she just sat there for a number
of hours. She just sat there and I think she
didn't say anything, just held my hand and was really
just really supportive my son, you know, he was Dad's okay,
(16:28):
and then just went back to playing with his phone.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And Yep, the matter of wearing appropriate footwear whilst working
in the backyard did come up.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Have you had the lecture yet about wearing things in
the backyard?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yep, yeah, yep, yep. In fact, I went out there yesterday.
I was out there with my wife yesterday, and first
thing she said, put boots on.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
So yes, it's been ten days now since Stuart was
bitten and he's still not one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
They said that I probably have something they call anti
venom serum sickness. It's because the serum is mixed with
it's like it's mixed with the obviously the snut partly
snake venom, but with horse serum as well, and our
bodies don't really like it. So it's probably about a
week or two before I'm feeling back to normal. They said.
(17:20):
If it gets any worse, I mean most likely to
present kind of like having the flu. So I'll probably
just feel a bit run down and tired, and the
only thing I've got to keep an eye out for
is just the bite area. Sometimes you get what they do.
I think it's like necrosis type thing where tissue can
get infected and die or something like that, but that
(17:40):
very rarely happens, and they just said if that happens,
just put you on antibiotics and stuff like that. But yeah,
I'm getting better slightly every day, but I still kind
of have a headache every morning.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So while he focuses on getting back to full health,
Stuart has had plenty of time to reflect on those
who saved his life, especially the guys from the single
drin counsel crew who acted so quickly.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I'd like to see them at some point, you know,
take them out for lunch, have a chat.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How do you say thank you to, you know, anyone
who's there, just you know, they're just doing their job,
and I'm sure they weren't expecting anything to happen, you know,
but as soon as it did, you know, they just
I guess they just rushed into action and not the ambulance.
The paramedics said, they did an amazing job with what
(18:34):
they had and they had me in the right position,
recovery position and everything, and just yeah, I was keeping
the son off me and they were just trying to
keep me cool and talking to me and holding my hand.
As I said. Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot of it.
But yeah, I'd like to see them again. I'd just
like to thank them from the bottom of behalf of
(18:56):
my family as well, because if it wasn't for them,
i'd I don't know, I think I kind of hit
my wife this morning. She was a bit emotional because
she said, what you know, because it takes a while
sometimes because she's in robot made so she's busy running
the family and working, and then suddenly she's got a
(19:16):
few minutes to think about what have happened if no
one had been there. And I just said, I, you know,
luckily there was, so you know, I guess I feel
like I've got another chance, and I just I'm certainly
not going to waste that. And to the ambulance people,
the paramedics amazing, as I said. The following day after
(19:37):
I'd been released, my wife and Owen had coffee in
Singleton and I saw a special Operations paramedic, a young
guy named Andrew, come in, and I walked up to
him and went to introduce myself and ask him if
he knew who they were, and straight away he said,
my name so like Stewart and I said yes. He said,
I bandaged your leg and I just grabbed him and
(19:59):
hugged him. My wife grabbed him and hugged him as well.
And yeah, he just he actually filmed the helicopter. I
think he actually took a part of the helicopter taking
off and stuff like that. He said, but he said,
you were you were sick. The Simpsons came on very quickly, yeah,
he said. The council workers did an amazing job, and
they all that, you know, they all did, They all did.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
And it sounds like you and your wife are the
newest big supporters of the Westback Rescue Helicopter.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Oh for sure. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Anytime there's going to
be any fundraising, I'll put my hand up one.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And Stuart's blood is now a valuable commodity for the
medical science gurus who continue to refine treatments for snake
bike victims.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
So all the blood that they took from me, they're
space when when they're the space to discard it once
it's used, but with my permission, they can actually keep
it and then study it. And I said yeah, by
all means, I said, keep it, study it, call me
if you want any more. Like you know, it was,
it was just like I don't care what you anything
you need. I was more than happy to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And like anyone who's been through a near death experience
or traumatic event, Stuart says, first of all, problems don't
even worry him anymore.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
You talked about sort of being given another chance as
it really hit you like that already.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes, Ed has I guess we all take things for granted,
and even you know, silly petty little arguments you might
have had with family or grudge as you might have
held you look back, you just think that's just so silly.
What's the point, you know when something like this happens,
is just none of those things matter, you know, just
none of those things matter. It's just you just think, well,
(21:46):
thank God, I'm still here, you know. And that's and
that's what I take from it.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Our thanks to Stuart Forest for allowing us to crash
his recovery bubble to get a real insight to what
happens if you're unlucky enough to get a brand snake bite.
A quick response is critical to survival. The websites and
Johnewsouth Wales dot com dot au has a good pay
John how to respond. That's all for now on iHeart
(22:12):
Upper Hunter, proudly supported by the new South Wales Government.
I am Darren Katrupe. Catch you next time.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
iHeart Upper Hunter.
iHeart a hunter. I remember one of them saying, are
uka mate? And I said, and I think the last
thing I said snake bite. And that was it.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Have you ever wondered what happens when you're bitten by
a brown snake? Well, on this episode, we're going to
find out. Hello, I'm Darren KATRUVII and meet Stuart Forrest.
He's a very lucky guy. He's recovering from being bitten
by a brownie in his backyard at Singleton Heights ten
days ago, but he felt well enough to invite me
(00:32):
into his home to share his remarkable survival story. Especially
with summer and snake season not too far away. Stuart's
story is all the more remarkable as he managed to
cheat death after doing all the wrong things. So Stuart,
please set the scene and spare us no details.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I was in the backyard of around lunchtime. I was
just doing a little bit of tidying up in the
backyard and I happened to be in just a bit
of a bushy area and I happened to step on
what I thought was a stick. I felt a sharp,
like a needle prick in my leg. I looked down,
(01:14):
sort out of my peripheral vision realized it wasn't a stick,
and saw what looked to be a brown snake taking
off and took off into the bush. It looked to
be quite like a young snake, a juvenile.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Perhaps I've had a look at the area.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
We're not talking about a massive, overgoing bushy grass area
that hasn't been maintained where you'd expect to find a snake.
This is just a standard suburban backyard.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Garden, correct, correct, Yeah, man, it's a fairly large yard
and we do need to maintain it. But yeah, and
I'd had to mode the lawn on the weekend, so
I was just, I guess, finishing up that, and it
was Yeah, it was just completely out of the blue, unexpected.
I imagine perhaps whatever it was doing was maybe sunning itself,
(01:58):
and I just didn't say it.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You do what most iz he's doing the backyard. You
were wearing thongs, which is probably not a great idea
in midsight.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I was, I was. I normally wear boots when I'm
out there mowing, obviously, you know, I do try to
wear the appropriate footwear. But yeah, I was just taking
a break and I thought i'd just quickly go out
there and tidy a few things up, so I didn't
give it a second thought.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You felt that pain, that bite or that needles sort
of type feeling. Did you get pain straight away or
how long before that started?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
No real pain as such, it just it was more
of a bit of a shock. When I realized what
it was, I thought, this is not good. I'm on
my own. So there wasn't any real pain, but I
knew but I felt it. If anything, it felt like
a little prick and you know, like and like maybe
(02:53):
a head butt sort of thing, and that was it,
like a tap if you like. I pretty much thought
better try and get some help. So it's like a
sort of snake correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. Yeah,
So it doesn't it's not what a lot of people
might think. It's not a sharp, painful thing. I've even
(03:14):
heard of some people didn't even know that they they've
actually been bitten. So I was fortunate enough to actually
see it.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Stewart says it didn't take long for panic to set
in and all logical thinking to disappear.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
While I did everything that you're not supposed to do
from all the people that I've spoken to, because normally
when something like that happens, you should sit down, be quiet,
and mobilize. I guess I kind of panicked. I'm a
bit of a city boy, so I'm not used to
more rural areas, so I've not really had anything to
do with snakes. Obviously, I know they're dangerous, but yeah,
(03:51):
I pretty much and anything said. It's a fair distance
from the where I was to the front door, but
no one else was here. No one else will hear
my wife. She works in the mines, so she was
out driving big trucks in a pit so I had
no phone, couldn't call her. She has no phone reception.
Obviously you think call an ambulance, but you know, I
(04:13):
just had one hundred things going through my head. I
even have a venom bandage up on the kitchen bench.
Didn't even think to grab that. So my thought was
just try and get to some help. I thought, not
too far away from the hospital. Stupid me thought I
would go and drive there.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And Stuart quickly realized that driving himself to hospital maybe
wasn't a great idea.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Made it as far as the stairs to the front door.
I put the keys down, thought I don't feel well.
I walked outside to front door to where my front
lawn is, and then I believe I was ill from
what I was told. I was vomiting and then I
(04:58):
had some sort of a seizure and don't recall anything
after that until I got to the hospital.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So collapsed on his front doorstep. Stuart got lucky, very lucky,
enter a group of council staff who just happened to
be working on the road outside his house.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
There was council workers from Singleton Council out the front.
They had been fixing up the roadway and the gutter
and they've been there all week. So I went out there.
I saw them and I kind of I remember one
of them saying, are uka mate, And I said, and
I think the last thing I said snake bite and
that was it. And I kind of remember voices and
(05:35):
stuff like that after that. Whether that was them or
the ambulance people, I don't know, but yeah, it was.
It was pretty Yeah, I was pretty blurry.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
So what we had told happened. The council workers obviously
contacted the ambos, and.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yes, they contacted the ambulance. They said it was an
urgent thing. I don't know whether they told them what
snake it was or I told them inadvertently, whether I
was because I was incoherent, I believe they wrapped a bandage,
and yeah, I found out later that the council workers
(06:13):
don't have snake bike bandages, which you know, I think
probably should. Maybe that might be good for something for
them down the track to have that in their truck seed. So,
but they had what they had and they rendered. First day.
I was told that they put me in a recovery position.
I do remember one of the council workers rubbing my
head and just trying to keep me cool and just
(06:35):
telling me it's all right, stay with me, Stay with me.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
I think if you think of your beautiful wife, you know,
and and that was one of the things I do remember,
and I thought, well, you know, that's if that's the
last thought I ever have, is my wife and my
son who's six years old, And if that's the last
thort I ever have, then it's not a bad thought.
But that was the last thort I had. Next thing
I know, I was in hospital.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
As the venom took hold. Stewart says he's never experienced
so much pain, uncontrollable shaking all over his body by
now he was in emergency.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
You wake up in hospital? Was that because you were
taken to Singleton Hospital initially?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Is that where you wake up or yeah, correct, that's
where I wake up And I was being treated by
It felt like it was like twenty people in the room.
When I came to, they explained what had happened, and
I'd had a couple of seezes and they give me
some medication for that. They were informed by toxicologists at
(07:38):
the Martyr Hospital who were actually watching me through cameras,
which I thought was that's pretty good technology. I didn't
know that. They said, we don't know one hundred percent
what snake it is, so give him both Andy venoms.
So they gave me brown snake, so the canular in
my left arm and then my right arm. They gave
(07:59):
me the tiger snake Andy Bannham, just just in case,
and they said, look we need to also that needs
to run over about twenty odd minutes, and they said, look,
we've got adrenaline here as well, because sometimes you can
have an anaphylactic reaction. So they were waiting for it
to run through before they were willing to transport me.
(08:21):
And then I had a doctor who was staying with
me the whole time. She was amazing. She was from
westpac she was a flight retrieval doctor, and she was
explaining to me, and she just kept asking me every
few seconds, are Uka are you okay? And I was yeah, yeah,
but it was hard. I couldn't talk. Everything was twitching,
my muscles, everything was twitching. And I had what could
(08:44):
be described as from anyone who suffers from migraine, something
even worse than that. It was just horrible.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Were you conscious enough through that period to think am
I going to survive this? Or were you just sell
out of it?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I was. I came in and out eventually, I think
I remember, and I think I even looked up at
one stage and a couple of people said are you right?
Are you okay? You're right? And I sort of just nodded.
I didn't really verbally respond. I just like I found
it really painful to talk. One of the things that
(09:19):
really got me was very very sensitive to lights. So
I have found it hard to keep my eyes open
because I just just my eyes. It just hurt my head.
So I have my eyeshut a lot of the time,
so a lot of the stuff it was just I
could hear what was going on, and I could hear
them getting instructions on how to administer the anti venom.
(09:41):
But they just worked so well together and everyone was
just looking out for my well being and to make
sure that I was okay. You know, the doctors, the nurses,
the amboser that they were just they were amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Stewart says he was forced to think about his mortality
again when it was time to be transferred down to
Newcastle for more specialist treatment.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
It was weird. I remember being driven down to the
helipad because it was a bit bumpy, and I think
that the flight retrieval doctor was in there with me,
and I kind of remember saying something about just be
careful his heart rates going up. I remember that, and
then I think I kind of went out again, and
(10:27):
then I sort of remember being put into the helicopter
and I had to ask them later how they put
me in, because because they put you in sort of,
you know, from the side head first. But when I
woke up at John Hunter Landing, my feet were facing
the back of the helicopter, so I worked out as
actually what they did was they actually lift you up
(10:49):
with a winch inside the helicopter and then turn you around,
which is pretty cool. So kind of remember taking off.
I don't remember much of the flight. I do rememb
remember the landing was when they opened the door, it
was quite windy and it was actually quite nice. Cool
air hit me because I was quite hot. And then
they said, what we're going to do is we're going
(11:09):
to put you in an ambulance. We're going to transport
you down to the Marta. So the decision was made
by the doctors at the Martyr to fly me there
because originally they were going to drive me to the
Martyr by raid ambulance, but I think they were concerned
about perhaps my vitals or maybe the sieges I had,
and they wanted me there quickly. They ran blood tests
(11:32):
very quickly, and then they were running them every six hours.
They took swaps of the area of where I was bitten.
It gave me ivy fluids, and obviously, you know, checking
how the anti venom was going. The worst part was
probably the pain where my muscles were still twitching, But
the worst part was my headache. My headache was just NonStop.
(11:54):
I think I must have finally fell asleep sometime around
later around midnight, and then I woke up at one
thirty because they needed to do blood And then that
was the first time I was actually able to wake
up and sit up. My head had actually finally stopped pounding,
and they said, your bloods are starting to look better.
And as the day went on, I went back to sleep,
(12:15):
and then in the morning I woke up and I
actually had some breakfast. I actually felt a lot better.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Was that the first time you thought I've got through
the worst of this.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah. And the toxicologists they were they were brilliant. There
was two of them, and they both just said look
because they saw me originally when I got there, and
then they saw me the first thing in the morning
and they said, look, everything's looking okay. You know, we're
just keep an eye on some of the some of
your symptoms. In their words, they said, because you got
(12:43):
everything so quickly the end, you and them so quickly,
we don't believe there's any real damage. And that's and
that's basically, you know, the crux to it. It was,
it was extremely fast efficient and because everyone worked so
well together, they were able to you know, prevent me
getting I guess, you know, seriously injured.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
From all of this stay with us, the mad rush
to Newcastle for Stuart's wife and son, and a heartfelt
thank you for the council workers who saved his life.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I heart upper Hunter, I heart Apper Hunter.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I'm DARRENK Trupy and more. Now of my conversation with
Stuart Forrest in his home at Singleton Heights, ten days
after his near death experience from being bitten on the
ankle by a brown snake. By now Stuart is at
Newcastle's Martyr Hospital and wondering if anyone's managed to contact
his wife.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Now while this is going on, your wife's happily just
working away in minds on the dump truck. How did
how long before she found out and was able to
come down?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
So I'm not one hundred percent sure how long it took.
I think I know whether I gave them the number,
because I did have my phone with me and I said,
I ring, this is the number to ring. It's mount
and dispatch and they all call her from what from?
She told me that she spoke to the council worker
(14:18):
and then she spoke to the special operations paramedic at
the hospital at a separate time. Now, I believe when
she was out in the pit. The dispatch were trying
to call her, and her boss actually drove out into
the pit and said, we're trying to get a hold
of you because it's not great reception. You just said
(14:39):
you need to come, and she's like, oh, what's wrong.
Your husband's been bitten by a snake. So yeah, she
didn't really react or anything, because I think she was
in a bit of shock. The one thing I do
remember was because like you like you do, you know,
because we're relatively new to the area, we've got to
you know, we're making friends. But we didn't have anyone
(15:00):
to pick up my son. So I do remember being
in the ed Ward just before we left for the helicopter.
I said, someone's got to pick my son up. He's
at you know, the school, and they said, it's all right,
we're taking care of that. We're speaking to your wife.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
That's how I knew that they were speaking to her
on the phone. And I remember the ambulous guy saying,
do you want to talk to your husband? And she's
like nai apparently, And I thought, oh, that's nice, you
don't want to talk to you my deathbed here, But
I was just but no, I think I think it
was just she needed to focus on, you know what,
(15:36):
what she was doing, and she's very good at that.
She's you know, she's a very intelligent person. She just
you know, you can always rely on her in a crisis.
She's very systematic and when things go wrong, she automatically
goes into this mode of just doing everything one step
at a time. And yeah, I was still groggy obviously
(15:56):
at the Martyr And when I wake up, she was there.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
What's the first thing your wife said to you?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Not much. I don't really remember what she said. I
think she just gave me a hug, and yeah, she
just I think she just sat there for a number
of hours. She just sat there and I think she
didn't say anything, just held my hand and was really
just really supportive my son, you know, he was Dad's okay,
(16:28):
and then just went back to playing with his phone.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
And Yep, the matter of wearing appropriate footwear whilst working
in the backyard did come up.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Have you had the lecture yet about wearing things in
the backyard?
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yep, yeah, yep, yep. In fact, I went out there yesterday.
I was out there with my wife yesterday, and first
thing she said, put boots on.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
So yes, it's been ten days now since Stuart was
bitten and he's still not one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
They said that I probably have something they call anti
venom serum sickness. It's because the serum is mixed with
it's like it's mixed with the obviously the snut partly
snake venom, but with horse serum as well, and our
bodies don't really like it. So it's probably about a
week or two before I'm feeling back to normal. They said.
(17:20):
If it gets any worse, I mean most likely to
present kind of like having the flu. So I'll probably
just feel a bit run down and tired, and the
only thing I've got to keep an eye out for
is just the bite area. Sometimes you get what they do.
I think it's like necrosis type thing where tissue can
get infected and die or something like that, but that
(17:40):
very rarely happens, and they just said if that happens,
just put you on antibiotics and stuff like that. But yeah,
I'm getting better slightly every day, but I still kind
of have a headache every morning.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So while he focuses on getting back to full health,
Stuart has had plenty of time to reflect on those
who saved his life, especially the guys from the single
drin counsel crew who acted so quickly.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I'd like to see them at some point, you know,
take them out for lunch, have a chat.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How do you say thank you to, you know, anyone
who's there, just you know, they're just doing their job,
and I'm sure they weren't expecting anything to happen, you know,
but as soon as it did, you know, they just
I guess they just rushed into action and not the ambulance.
The paramedics said, they did an amazing job with what
(18:34):
they had and they had me in the right position,
recovery position and everything, and just yeah, I was keeping
the son off me and they were just trying to
keep me cool and talking to me and holding my hand.
As I said. Unfortunately, I don't remember a lot of it.
But yeah, I'd like to see them again. I'd just
like to thank them from the bottom of behalf of
(18:56):
my family as well, because if it wasn't for them,
i'd I don't know, I think I kind of hit
my wife this morning. She was a bit emotional because
she said, what you know, because it takes a while
sometimes because she's in robot made so she's busy running
the family and working, and then suddenly she's got a
(19:16):
few minutes to think about what have happened if no
one had been there. And I just said, I, you know,
luckily there was, so you know, I guess I feel
like I've got another chance, and I just I'm certainly
not going to waste that. And to the ambulance people,
the paramedics amazing, as I said. The following day after
(19:37):
I'd been released, my wife and Owen had coffee in
Singleton and I saw a special Operations paramedic, a young
guy named Andrew, come in, and I walked up to
him and went to introduce myself and ask him if
he knew who they were, and straight away he said,
my name so like Stewart and I said yes. He said,
I bandaged your leg and I just grabbed him and
(19:59):
hugged him. My wife grabbed him and hugged him as well.
And yeah, he just he actually filmed the helicopter. I
think he actually took a part of the helicopter taking
off and stuff like that. He said, but he said,
you were you were sick. The Simpsons came on very quickly, yeah,
he said. The council workers did an amazing job, and
they all that, you know, they all did, They all did.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
And it sounds like you and your wife are the
newest big supporters of the Westback Rescue Helicopter.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Oh for sure. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Anytime there's going to
be any fundraising, I'll put my hand up one.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
And Stuart's blood is now a valuable commodity for the
medical science gurus who continue to refine treatments for snake
bike victims.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
So all the blood that they took from me, they're
space when when they're the space to discard it once
it's used, but with my permission, they can actually keep
it and then study it. And I said yeah, by
all means, I said, keep it, study it, call me
if you want any more. Like you know, it was,
it was just like I don't care what you anything
you need. I was more than happy to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
And like anyone who's been through a near death experience
or traumatic event, Stuart says, first of all, problems don't
even worry him anymore.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
You talked about sort of being given another chance as
it really hit you like that already.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes, Ed has I guess we all take things for granted,
and even you know, silly petty little arguments you might
have had with family or grudge as you might have
held you look back, you just think that's just so silly.
What's the point, you know when something like this happens,
is just none of those things matter, you know, just
none of those things matter. It's just you just think, well,
(21:46):
thank God, I'm still here, you know. And that's and
that's what I take from it.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Our thanks to Stuart Forest for allowing us to crash
his recovery bubble to get a real insight to what
happens if you're unlucky enough to get a brand snake bite.
A quick response is critical to survival. The websites and
Johnewsouth Wales dot com dot au has a good pay
John how to respond. That's all for now on iHeart
(22:12):
Upper Hunter, proudly supported by the new South Wales Government.
I am Darren Katrupe. Catch you next time.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
iHeart Upper Hunter.
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