A Melbourne family's once-in-lifetime trip has been cut short thanks to an encounter with one of Australia's deadliest snakes just a few steps outside the hotel door.
Edward McKinney, his wife Carmen and their two-year-old daughter, Vienna, were on a trip-of-a-lifetime to Uluru in the Northern Territory.
The former New Yorker, now a Melbourne-based software salesman, was holidaying at one of the Yulara hotels to celebrate his and his wife's birthday and Easter when a 15-centimetre brown snake bit the 35-year-old.
"It wasn't a big one. It was just a baby one," McKinney said.
Mr McKinney said he and his family had only been at the resort for 24 hours, and he was taking his toddler for a swim.
"I go to leave the room, open the door, take five steps to the left," he said.
"I feel something go up my leg. It felt like a piece of grass.
Given his overwhelming fear of snakes, Mr McKinney said he would never forget those five steps in the metre-wide hallway.
He returned to the hotel room, where he and his wife scoured his lower limbs for puncture marks.
"I think I'm okay. My wife's looking at my leg. I'm looking at my leg. We can't see any bites," Mr McKinney said.
"We wait a couple minutes. We're like, 'Okay, I'm the luckiest man in the world.'"
Five minutes later, at the pool, Mr McKinney started to feel unwell and noticed an itching and burning sensation on his shin.
"I didn't even realise the snake had gone that far," he said.
"I go, 'Oh my god! I just got bit by a brown snake."
Despite knowing that immobilisation is one of the steps in the first aid for a snake bite, Mr McKinney wrapped the bite in a towel and moved to one of the resort restaurants where he could get help.
"I just tried to stay as calm as possible," he said.
A woman named Jules, who Mr McKinney believes was a guest, provided first aid while an ambulance was called.
"She wrapped it up … and they called the ambulance right away," he said.
Medevac to Alice Springs
Mr McKinney remained positive while receiving treatment at the Yulara Health Clinic, given his symptoms had not worsened in the two hours since the bite.
But he became concerned when he learnt he was not out of danger despite his symptoms.
"There was a rash on my neck and chest, which was concerning," Mr McKinney said.
"They said, "Look, we don't have anti-venom here.
Mr McKinney said that he questioned how necessary it was to be flown to the Alice Springs emergency department, and he was told: "As soon as we pull this compression bandage off if there's venom in your leg, it'll go straight to your heart and could potentially kill you."
"I waited probably six, seven hours for the flying doctors to land," he said.
During this time, his wife and daughter visited him at the health clinic, which reassured his wife, Carmen, of his condition.
"Vienna still didn't understand I'm not supposed to move. But all [she] wanted to do was jump on Daddy's stomach and act like I'm a horse," he said.,
"They fly me to Alice 7 o'clock at night.
'I had no idea I was bitten'
When Mr McKinney arrived at the emergency department, he was met by a team of six or seven medical professionals.
"In five minutes, they unwrapped my bandage and just monitored my symptoms. [They] took blood to make sure my blood wasn't coagulating with the venom," he said.
"Everything was fine. I was quite lucky — very lucky man."
Mr McKinney said, but for the slight symptoms, he would never have sought treatment.
"It must happen where people get bitten, and they don't even realise it and don't get the help."
The whole experience, including catching a six-hour tourist bus back to Uluru to be reunited with his family, has changed his perspective on life.
"I've just learned from it to be less fearful," Mr McKinney said.
"Because sometimes your biggest fears are literally just in your mind."
Correct first aid crucial to survival
Andrew Thomas from Northern Territory St John Ambulance said that it was vital for first aiders not to wash the bite site.
"They're able to do a swab of the site to see if there's any venom and then identify which snake it is."
He said the next step was to immobilise the patient.
"If you can, use an elasticised or crepe bandage to immobilise the whole limb," Mr Thomas said.
"Starting at either the toes or the fingers and then [wrap a] nice firm bandage all the way up the limb."
