A 44-year-old mother was left in a critical condition after handling what she assumed was a harmless insect.
Antoinette Webb had been visiting Fort Knox State Park with her young children when she noticed a beetle she described as especially striking.
But soon after picking it up, Webb said she was hit with an intense sensation that spread through her body.
Speaking to WABI 5, Webb recalled: “A berry green, [most] beautiful beetle I’ve never seen. And I just picked him up and I said, ‘Woah you’re so pretty.’ And within seconds I felt burning through my body.”
Webb was with her nine-year-old twins, Ella and Jonah, when the reaction began. Realizing something was seriously wrong, she hurried up a grassy hill to the park’s gift shop, where she received urgent help from Dean Martin, executive director of Friends of Fort Knox.
Alongside the burning sensation, Webb reportedly broke out in hives and began struggling to breathe, according to the New York Post.
Recalling the frightening moments, Martin said: “She’s lying there and I’m holding her hand and I’m talking to 9-1-1 and I’m holding her. She passes out because of a constricted airway, she’s got a lack of air. She’s got blue lips.”
Another staff member, Alex, also rushed in to help, and the pair gave Webb Benadryl while waiting for emergency responders to arrive.
“That’s the best we had,” Martin said of antihistamine. “And then we waited for the ambulance crews.”
Webb later learned she had picked up a six-spotted tiger beetle. She was bitten, triggering what was described as an extremely rare allergic reaction.
She now credits Martin and his colleague for acting quickly and helping keep her alive until paramedics arrived.
“I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for them,” she said. “They acted fast, they knew exactly what to do. I’m just so grateful, I’m just so grateful.”
Webb went on: “If you guys come to Fort Knox, just know that you will be taken care of and your children will be taken care of.”
According to Cleveland Clinic, reactions to insect bites or stings can vary widely—from mild swelling and irritation to severe, life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Signs of an allergic reaction include:
Allergic reactions will typically kick in around 15 minutes after a person is bitten or stung. There have been instances of symptoms emerging up to six hours later, however.