Father left fighting for life after being bitten by adder in west London park

Pic:Josh Rose was rushed to hospital after being bitten by the adder on Saturday
Staff reporter(wp/es):

A dad-of-two was left fighting for his life after he was bitten by a three foot-long venomous adder while picnicking with his children in a west London park.

Josh Rose, 27, said he thought he was “going to die” when the dangerous snake bit him after he spotted the adder slithering up his two-year-old son Sebastian’s pushchair while relaxing in Hounslow Heath on Saturday.

Scared for his son’s safety, he had tried to knock the snake off the pram, only for the adder to bite his right hand.

A dog walker was able to usher the snake away with a stick, but by then Mr Rose had gone into anaphylactic shock.

Mr Rose, of Powder Mill Lane, in Twickenham, said: “I was just over in the park having a picnic with my sister and my kids. I turned around and saw the snake coming up my pram.

“I couldn’t think - I just tried to whack it way to get it to move and it literally just turned around and bit me.

“Within two minutes I was on the floor. I couldn’t move, I was throwing up straight away. I think everyone was a bit worried.”

Mr Rose said he started foaming from the mouth, and had to be carried from the park with the help of his sister and brother-in-law, who were picnicking with him.

An ambulance arrived and rushed him to West Middlesex Hospital, where Mr Rose says doctors were just minutes away from being put on a life support machine.

His heart rate had plummeted to about four beats per minute, but he soon recovered and was able to leave the hospital after 24 hours.

Mr Rose, a builder by trade, added: “I’ve never felt anything like it – my whole body was in agony. I was paralysed and couldn’t talk to anyone.

“I actually said to my sister ‘I think I’m going to die’. It was definitely good to wake up and see everyone in the hospital.”

“They were about to put me on a life support machine.”

Adders are the UK’s only poisonous snake, possessing a bite strong enough to kill a family pet.

Known to frequent parks and gardens, about 100 adder bites are reported in Britain each year.

Mr Rose says the experience has put him off visiting the park again, especially with his two sons Lincoln, 3, and Sebastian.

He added: “Apparently there are lots of them over there, but I’ve grown up and never seen one. I definitely won’t be going back.”

“[My kids] were running around playing there before. Thank God it was me and not one of them.”