DAILY BREEZE (Torrance, California) 21 September 07 Baby rattlesnake creates a painful Peninsula adventure - A backyard encounter with a baby rattlesnake in Rolling Hills sends a 10-year-old boy to the hospital. (Laura E. Davis)

Unlike most boys his age, 10-year-old Sebastian Leon is actually looking forward to school next week. He's got a great story to tell his classmates.

On Monday afternoon, he was playing a game of touch football barefoot in his friend's backyard in Rolling Hills. As he stepped back to make a catch, he felt a sharp pain in his left foot, like a needle piercing his skin.

But that was no needle - it was a baby rattlesnake.

"It was curled around me, and I kicked it off," said the Rolling Hills Estates fifth-grader. His friend, Tyler Rosen, then killed it with a baseball bat.

The boys yelled for help, and Tyler's mother called 911.

By the time paramedics arrived, Sebastian's foot and leg were swollen. He was shivering and had trouble breathing.

"I was thinking, `I don't want to die this way,"' Sebastian said. "I felt scared that if I was going to die, I would never see anyone again."

His mom, Elsie Leon, rode with him in the ambulance to Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

"He just kept saying, `I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I'm going to die,"' Elsie said. "I think because he was so scared, I automatically went into calm mode to calm him down."

Sebastian was given antivenin and his dad spent the night with him at the hospital. His mom stayed home with Sebastian's three siblings.

On Tuesday, he was transferred to intensive care at Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach, where he was given about 15 doses of antivenin.

"This case was particularly unique because (Sebastian) was bitten by a baby snake," said Dr. Carlos Maggi, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Miller Children's Hospital. "And baby snakes are notorious for releasing all their venom on the victim at once."

Miller Children's Hospital has one or two snakebite victims a year, Maggi said, but most people are bitten by adult snakes, which limit the release of their venom.

Sebastian was home Thursday and said by Monday he should be back at Dapplegray Elementary School. His foot is still swollen, and it will be awhile before he can return to some of his normal activities, such as playing tennis and soccer.

Maggi said Sebastian won't have any long-term complications from the bite, and will only need treatment from his regular doctor.

Sebastian has the dead snake in a container and said he plans to bury it in his backyard.

"I'm going to dig it really deep so the worms can eat it," he said.
Baby rattlesnake creates a painful Peninsula adventure

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