KDKA (Pittsburgh Pennsylvania) 05 August 06 Fayette Co. Man Survives Snake Bite (David Highfield)

Georges TWP. A Fayette County man had a run-in with a poisonous snake and lived to tell about it again.

Bill Ware has an interest in snakes.

He even goes to snake hunts.

Over the years, he has learned how to handle them but the other night, when he was rock climbing, he got quite a surprise.

Ware now has two red marks on his fingers where he says a copperhead bit him.

"I put my hand on a rock and I just saw like a thorn branch on me," said Ware.

It happened just outside Fairchance, Fayette County, when Ware was rock climbing.

He says there was more than one snake.

"When I pulled up on the rock, it was right there," recalled Ware. "I just seen them right there. I seen these heads sticking out. They could all have nailed me if they wanted."

Ware's heart began racing.

He used a cell phone to call for help, afraid he might not be able to make it back on his own.

"My lips started tingling and my tongue got numb and I knew it wasn't good," said Ware.

Now, three days later, Ware's hand is still swollen and his arms hurt.

But it really doesn't concern him.

"Not really," said Ware. "Last time that I was bitten, I was bit really bad. It swelled all the way up and I had tubes down my throat."

Handling snakes is Ware's hobby.

Even his daughter is into it.

He has been bitten ten times before but this is his first copperhead bite.

Ware has been bitten so many times that one doctor told him that he has now become allergic to anti-venom.

A hospital in Morgantown has a new synthetic type of anti-venom but Ware chose not to try it.

It seems he does not mind snakes but he don't care for helicopter rides.
Fayette Co. Man Survives Snake Bite

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