01x08 - I Went Bonkers...

[bunniefuu]

ANDREW: Hiking is the closest experience
that we can get

to really removing ourselves
from modernity.

[rattling]

It allows you to enjoy yourself
and your thoughts,

along with enjoying
the diversity of nature.

[cl*max music]

NARRATOR: May 2020,
the mountains high above Los Angeles.

Parks and trails have re-opened
during a lull in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Graduate students Andrew and Mackenzie,
young and in love,

are excited to embark on a casual hike

along a well-traveled trail
called Devils Canyon.

Devils Canyon, 2020.

What could go wrong?

ANDREW: My name is Andrew Schacht.

I am 25 years old,
and I'm originally from the Midwest.

Mackenzie's my girlfriend.

MACKENZIE: We met
our junior year of college

and then ended up choosing
to come to Caltech together.

We're both being trained as biologists,
and we're both PhD students.

ANDREW: I really enjoy her determination.
She's very objective about things.

MACKENZIE: We also have
a lot of shared interests,

like hiking and being outside, and he's
funny, and he cares for me a lot. [laughs]

ANDREW: May 10th was the first day
that the trails were opening up.

We were doing
the whole work-at-home thing,

which is kind of hard to do in science,

so we were really excited
to do a lot of hiking

and being outdoors.

MACKENZIE: We threw some
really easy lunches together.

I reached for my hiking boots
and put them on,

just because I knew
it was gonna be a long walk,

and I remember asking him if he
wanted to put hiking boots on,

and he said, "No, no, it's fine
because it's just a paved path,"

and I just kind of, like, left it at that,
didn't think twice of it.

It seemed like a pretty
arbitrary decision at the time.

NARRATOR: Andrew and Mackenzie
begin their hike

at the Devils Canyon
trailhead around noon.

Their plan is to hike the 6-mile trail

and stop and have lunch
before heading back.

MACKENZIE: I think it was
perfect California weather,


We stopped to take some pictures,

looking at each other, talking,
pointing out some of the wildlife.

ANDREW: There was lots of
lizards and many animals.

MACKENZIE: We were feeling good,
we were having fun.

ANDREW: In fact, we had pulled
out a bag of grapes earlier

and were eating that as we were walking,
just kind of enjoying the walk

and enjoying conversation with each other.

MACKENZIE: It was just a really great day.

It's nearing lunchtime.

At this point, we haven't
seen anyone in a long time.

We're just by ourselves,
just, like, enjoying each other's company,

singing silly songs.

ANDREW: We were totally
caught up in conversation.

I was looking at Mackenzie,
she was looking at me.

MACKENZIE: We presumably must
have been looking at each other

for long enough as we rounded this corner

that we didn't ever stop
to scan the ground.

ANDREW: Whoa!

Suddenly I step on something.
And I jumped forward a few steps.

MACKENZIE: And he made some sort of noise,

like he shrieked or
or just like kind of said, "Ah."

ANDREW: I don't even know
if it was words, just "Ah."

It didn't feel right,

as though you were stepping
onto a trampoline.

MACKENZIE: By the time we get away,

we look at each other,
and I'm like, "What happened?"

ANDREW: And we look back, and we see...

[rattling]

a rattlesnake that's now rattling at us.
And we turn to each other and we say,

you know, "Were you bit?"
She says, "No, no, I'm okay. You?"

And I said, "No, I don't think so."
So I take off my shoe, I take off my sock.

ANDREW: Oh, no.

Sure enough, there's
a large puncture wound.

MACKENZIE: There's like a small
little bit of blood coming out

sort of near his pinky toe.

At that point, we kind of were
just looking at each other

like, "Oh, crap, what should we do?"

NARRATOR: Dr. Emily Taylor
is a professor of biological sciences

at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

and has been studying snakes for decades.

DR. TAYLOR: If you're in
the San Gabriel Mountains

and you see a rattlesnake,
it's a southern Pacific rattlesnake.

NARRATOR: The southern
Pacific rattlesnake,

a large-bodied snake

found in Southern California
and Northern Mexico.

The highly venomous pit viper
thrives in populated areas

and can grow to over 4 feet long.

But as Dr. Emily Taylor explains,
human beings are not on the menu.

DR. TAYLOR: Rattlesnakes
do not want to bite people,

and they will not do it

unless they feel that
they're defending themselves.

In the case of Andrew,

where they basically
surprise one another--

he comes around a curve,
he steps on a rattlesnake,

the rattlesnake is immediately
in self-defense mode

because it feels this giant foot
coming down on top of it.

It strikes.

[cymbals]

ANDREW: Immediately there was
a sense of panic.

I think it was the sounds that
really got me at that moment.

You can start hearing the rattle
coming from behind us.

[rattling]

DR. TAYLOR: We definitely know
that rattlesnake rattle evolved

to help them warn off predators,

and they use it to say,
"Hey, don't step on me,

don't bite me, don't eat me."
Buzz is a southern Pacific rattlesnake.

I'm gonna coax him to go up into this tube
so that I can safely handle him.

So, the rattlesnake rattle

is one of the fastest muscle
contractions known in nature,

up to 90 times per second back and forth--

about twice as fast as even
a hummingbird's wings can beat.

Rattles are made out of keratin,
so just like your fingernails are.

Each segment fits loosely
against the next one

so when they shake their tail really fast,

they bang against each other
and make that high-pitched "zzzz" noise.

[rattling]

NARRATOR: Unfortunately for Andrew,
the southern Pacific rattlesnake

carries a highly toxic venom
that can be fatal.

ANDREW: We pulled out the phone,
I immediately took a picture of the snake,

then we take a picture of the foot

just to have evidence of
what the bite looked like.

Snake bites are one of those things
you never think is gonna happen to you.

We always know that it's a risk
about going out in the wilderness,

but when it happens to you and
you're 6 1/2 miles into a hike,

these things start
running through your mind,

that potentially I could die from this.

[dramatic music]

KRISTEN: We know that
there's inherent danger

in anything that you do in this lifetime--

adventure, travel... anything.

We took the chance, we took the tour,
we thought that it would have been safe,

and it wasn't.

[water splashing]

NARRATOR: The Zambezi River
in southern Africa,

the lifeblood for some of Africa's
most beautiful and dangerous animals.

[birds cawing]

Each year wildlife enthusiasts
from around the globe

journey here to experience
its wonders first-hand.

Travel addicts and nature lovers
Kristen and Ryan Yaldor

have come all the way from Florida

for what they hope will be
a vacation of a lifetime.

KRISTEN: Growing up,
my family loved to travel

so that kind of put that passion into me,

and when I met Ryan, him and I
always traveled together.

Ryan, my husband, is my best friend.
He keeps me balanced.

I keep him adventurous.

We like wildlife photography,
nature photography.

We like to capture nature in the wild
where we believe they should be,

to get that once-in-a-lifetime shot.
Our relationship is fun, exciting...

RYAN: I'd definitely say
we're a good team.

NARRATOR: After a few days of sightseeing,

Kristen and Ryan arrive
at Zambezi National Park

for the centerpiece
of their African adventure--

a canoe ride down the Zambezi River,

culminating at the majestic
Victoria Falls,

one of the seven
natural wonders of the world.

This area is teeming with wildlife.

KRISTEN: It's the morning
of my 37th birthday.

We were arriving just to
the Zambezi National Park.

It's beautiful out,
sunny skies, clear skies.

On the way to the canoe launch site,
we spotted a herd of elephants.

They were eating out of the trees,
walking through the brush.

It was just an amazing experience

and to be able to see them
in their natural environment

and to be able to take such
wonderful pictures of them.

This is spectacular,
and to have this experience on my birthday

is once-in-a-lifetime.

NARRATOR: The group
arrives at the riverbank

and prepares to embark.

Two local guides give Kristen
and Ryan a safety briefing.

RYAN: So, the rundown was basic
instructions on using a paddle,

you know, what wildlife we might see,
how we're gonna proceed down the river.

KRISTEN: They instructed us
to follow the lead canoe guide

along the river at all times,
and if anything happened or if we fell in,

that we should immediately swim to shore.

RYAN: And one thing that
caught of us off-guard

was he does describe how animals

could sometime come up
from underneath the canoe

and knock the canoes over,
and we kind of looked at each other...

you know, he's got to be joking.

But he kind of just kept going,
like glazed over,

like this is a normal instruction.

NARRATOR: That warning prompts
Ryan to leave his camera behind

and only take his waterproof cellphone.

KRISTEN: Ryan and I drift off to the side,
and I saw a bird

so I took out his cellphone
and started taking pictures.

We are in the low season,
so there are no rapids.

It's just calm, smooth water

with just a little bit
of current that flows.

RYAN: The guide in the front
has binoculars

and I believe is keeping
an eye out for, you know,

any dangers, maybe crocodiles
or anything like it.

It was kind of interesting

as they're giving us
the description of the river--

you know, this side's on
the Zimbabwe side to our right,

and then on the left bank
of the river is actually Zambia,

so we're kind of sitting in the border
of two different countries.

The weather's great,

the water's nice and warm,
it's comfortable.

Kristen decides to take a selfie of us,

you know, with the nice backdrop.

We got some trees
and the river set behind us.

We're just kind of cruising along,
keeping our eyes peeled

for whatever might be
on the banks of the river,

- just looking around for nature.
- KRISTEN: And then out of nowhere...

[splashing]

RYAN: Something comes up
underneath our canoe.

[screams]

It was kind of like a theme park ride.
We were just launched into the air.

[slashing]

And the next moment realized,
"I'm in the water,"

and trying to figure out
what just happened.

KRISTEN: I immediately popped up
once we fell into the water

and saw Ryan on
the opposite side of the canoe.

He didn't see me,
but we both started to swim towards shore,

- as we were instructed.
- RYAN: Literally I just swam

to get away from whatever it was
that had launched our canoe in the air.

You can't climb back into a canoe easily,

and you don't want to be in
the middle of a unknown river.

KRISTEN: I couldn't hear anything.

I was just focused on myself
trying to get to shore.

And then out of nowhere,
something bit my leg

and pulled me straight down under water.
Immediately when I was pulled under,

I instinctively reached towards the sky
to know if I was close to the surface,

but I didn't feel the surface.
So, I knew I was far enough down

that I had to conserve my air
as much as possible

in order not to drown.

[breathing heavily]

RYAN: I'm on the shore, drenched,
looking back to where our canoe was,

and Kristen is nowhere to be seen.
See nothing but a canoe upside down

and calm water
where I once was in the canoe.

The lead guide has pulled onto
the shore where I was standing.

He's not saying a word,

probably in just as much shock
as I was at that point.

NARRATOR: But beneath
the surface of the Zambezi,

it's anything but calm.

Kristen is in a fight for her life.

KRISTEN: Under the water
during this moment,

I didn't have time to be terrified.
I knew it was a life-or-death situation.

I just needed to live and survive,
so I had to stay as calm as possible

to conserve my air

and do whatever I could to
get this beast off of my leg.

But I didn't know
how long I would be under

and if it would even let me go.

NARRATOR: These waters are
teeming with large predators,

including crocodile and hippos.

But whatever it is
that has ahold of Kristen,

it refuses to let her go,

as she struggles
to get back to the surface.

KRISTEN: I knew it had bit me
across my knee,

and I could feel its leathery face
and its whiskers on its face and its nose.

At that point,
I knew what it was that bit me.

It had to have been the hippo
that threw us out of the canoe.

NARRATOR: The hippopotamus,

a semi-aquatic mammal
native to sub-Saharan Africa.

It is the third largest
land mammal in the world,

capable of growing to over 7,000 pounds

and running up to
20 miles per hour on land.

Dr. Camille Fritsch
is a senior research scientist

at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa

and has been studying
hippo ecology for years.

DR. FRITSCH: Hippos don't have
any specific malice

towards people.

They're herbivores,
they don't want to k*ll people.

If they're attacking a kayak or a canoe,
it's because it's a foreign object

and it's threatening to them.

They have enormous tusks
that are quite intimidating

and have evolved this amazing ability

to have their ears, eyes,
and nostrils above water,

so they can actually hear, see, and smell

with most of their body
completely submerged underwater.

The main reasons why hippos might attack

could be out of fear towards,
like a canoe that's in the river

and it's unsure what it is.

The second reason would be
out of defensive territories.

And the third reason
would be as power displays,

where they're actually showing
other male and female hippos

their power.
Hippos also do these kind of sneak attacks

where they see a perceived threat
and they actually go underwater

and can, completely undetected,
come below a canoe and attack from below.

[splashing]

KRISTEN: While underwater,

the hippo thrashed me back and forth
like a puppy does to a dog toy,

like a little rag doll.

RYAN: And Kristen
is just gone at this point.

ANDREW: Kristen!

And from there, I began to scream for her,

trying to figure out where she was,
but at that point,

kind of knowing that she's
got to be under the water.

ANDREW: Kristen!

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Back in Southern California,

Andrew and Mackenzie are
coming to terms with the fact

that Andrew was bitten by a rattlesnake.

ANDREW: She is freaking out, as am I.

You know, she's starting
to breathe really heavy

and kind of exclaiming,
"Oh my God, oh my God!

What are we gonna do?"

When things become very intense,
Mackenzie likes to talk a lot

and go through every possibility out loud.

MACKENZIE: I didn't know
if this was something that could k*ll him

or cause him to lose a leg,
or if this was just a routine injury

that could be treated
with modern medicine,

so we look at each other,
just sort of both agreeing,

like we have no idea what
we're supposed to do right now.

We can make a tourniquet.
Just take it off.

ANDREW: I placed it, like,
right below the knee or so.

I don't really know why I did.

We had heard some things to do
during a snake bite

on TV and in the media.

DR. TAYLOR: Almost everything

that people think they know
about rattlesnakes is a myth.

[rattling]

MAN: Aaah!

[g*nsh*t]

DR. TAYLOR: For example,
you see things on TV

about people putting tourniquets
on for a snake bite.

The key with a rattlesnake bite
is to actually be removing

any constrictive jewelry or clothing,

and by concentrating that venom
in the tissue in the foot

and not allowing it to go
to the rest of the body,

you've basically turned your foot

into the size of, like,
a rabbit that was envenomated.

Where the rabbit might die
from the snake bite,

your foot might die from the snake bite.

So that's why tourniquets
are a really bad idea.

MACKENZIE: We also conjure up the idea

that I should try to suck
the venom out of his foot.

ANDREW: I think it's one of those things

that's just kind of pervasive
in pop culture--

you know, try to suck out
any sort of venom from the bloodstream.

MACKENZIE: I get down on the ground

and try to suck the venom
from his sweaty foot.

ANDREW: So, she's going down
and spitting out blood onto the trail.

She probably did that about four times,
spat out blood and went back in.

I remember her looking back at me

and the blood kind of
running down her mouth.

Bless her heart.

DR. TAYLOR: Sucking venom is something
that has never been recommended.

It's purely a TV thing that people see.
When venom is injected,

it's not just sitting there
in a little pocket,

ready to be sucked back out.

It immediately starts to
diffuse through the tissue,

but secondarily,
you could actually be introducing

bacteria from your mouth
into the fang wounds

and causing a secondary infection,

thereby exacerbating
the severity of the bite.

MACKENZIE: It's particularly embarrassing,
as avid hikers and biologists,

that we thought that
that would do something,

and so we ditched that idea pretty fast.

DR. TAYLOR: So at this point,
every moment counts

in terms of getting him to
treatment with antivenom.

The reason that
people die from snake bites

are usually because of a delay
in getting to medical care.

NARRATOR: Deep beneath the
surface of the Zambezi River

in Zimbabwe, Africa,

Kristen Yaldor is trapped
in the jaws of a hippopotamus.

[bubbling]

As she struggles to free herself,
the animal refuses to let go,

rag-dolling her back and forth.

DR. FRITSCH: Hippos wouldn't necessarily

just drag their victims
underwater like a crocodile.

They're not predatory species.
They actually just eat grass.

So when Kristen got dragged underwater,

it's likely that the hippo
was actually just returning

to where it's comfortable, underwater,
where it knew that it had the advantage,

to make sure that it eliminated

any threat that it felt
from Kristen's canoe.

KRISTEN: I was almost out of air,
and I started to re-swallow my air

knowing that that might
help me conserve my air

and staying calm

and allowing me to try
to survive in this moment,

'cause I didn't know how long
this was gonna last.

DR. FRITSCH: The hippo can hold its breath
for two, three, five minutes.

Kristen, being shook around,

probably doesn't have much more
than 30 seconds of air,

and so he's likely gonna
last longer than she is.

KRISTEN: I had to try something.

I grabbed its mouth to try to pry it open
and didn't budge.

I'm not strong enough to do that.

I instinctively then just curled up
to try to conserve my breath

and not be thrown around
so much underwater,

- and somehow it let me go.
- DR. FRITSCH: It's possible

that when Kristen grabbed
onto the hippo's snout,

it actually got spooked and let go of her,

because there's very few animals
that a hippo would have bit onto

that would have had the same reaction,

and it's possible that that
actually saved her life.

RYAN: Kristen!

So, what seemed like forever,

I'm standing there screaming in a panic,

and all of a sudden,
Kristen does pop to the surface.

KRISTEN: I immediately saw Ryan
running on the shoreline

with the terrified look in his face.

I immediately started to paddle
towards Ryan and the guides,

but I couldn't swim.
My leg wouldn't work.

I screamed for help

and somehow instinctively
turned over and back-stroked.

RYAN: Drifting downriver on her back,

stroking with her arms,
trying to push herself,

so at this point, I'm like,
"Could this hippo come back?

Is there a crocodile upriver?"
It was whatever I needed to do

to get over there to help the
guides get her out of the river,

so that the water just didn't
carry her, you know,

continually towards the falls.

That's where this river's going
is over the Victoria Falls.

- If she passes us, there's nobody around.
- KRISTEN: I couldn't hear anything.

I was just focused on myself,
trying to get to shore,

and then I heard the guide say,
"Reach for the canoe paddle."

[gasping]

NARRATOR: Ryan and a guide
pull Kristen ashore,

where they get a clear look

at the massive damage
the hippo did to her leg.

KRISTEN: When I looked down,
I could see that my leg was torn open.

My skin was ripped off of my leg
and is laying on the side of my leg,

and I could see part of
my muscle that was torn off

sitting on top of my thigh.

DR. FRITSCH: Hippos have
these incredible weapons

in their mouths
where they have these two canine tusks

the size of a flexed human arm,
but they don't actually use them to eat.

What they use the teeth for
is to defend their territories

and to attack other territorial males.

RYAN: Kristen, at this point,
is repeating...

KRISTEN: I need help before I bleed out.

I knew I had limited time
if I was bleeding out,

so my panic and
my instructions to the guides

were I needed help immediately,
otherwise I was gonna die here.

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Back on the trail
near Los Angeles,

Andrew and Mackenzie
desperately confront the reality

of a life-threatening rattlesnake bite.
But that's not all they're facing.

ANDREW: As we're sitting there,
trying to work on my foot,

the snake's across the trail,

coiled up and rattling at us
the entire time.

DR. TAYLOR: So, once a rattlesnake
starts to rattle and bite in self-defense,

it's very likely to stand its ground

and to assume that it's
gonna be attacked further.

If you look at footage of
things like bobcats or hawks,

who are predators of
rattlesnakes, going after them,

they will come in and engage

and they'll kind of
bat around at the snake

over and over and over,
so it serves the snake's best interests

to make this loud sound
that would do a much better job

than just shaking the tail
in the leaf litter.

to say, "Hey, stay away, I'm dangerous."

MACKENZIE: I think at that point I realize
for the day we had planned,

we're sort of in, like,
the worst-case scenario.

We were 5 or 6 miles from the trailhead.
We didn't have a bike.

We'd barely been seeing anyone.
We need to get out of here.

- We need to get help as fast as possible.
- ANDREW: So, I take out my phone.

- We see that we have no cell reception.
- MACKENZIE: And we didn't know

if he should or shouldn't walk on the foot
after he'd been bitten.

So I told him...

MACKENZIE: Stay here and lean up against
this rock

and I'm gonna start running
to get help, okay?

- Stay here. Stay here.
- ANDREW: Okay.

MACKENZIE: And I just started
running as fast as I could

back towards the trailhead.

Help!

[panting]

Somebody help!

DR. TAYLOR: When Mackenzie decides
to run down the hill and get help,

that's absolutely the right decision.

The key is to get
the paramedics on the scene

as quickly as possible

and slowly walking out with Andrew
would have dramatically slowed that down.

ANDREW: As Mackenzie runs away
and rounds the corner out of sight,

I'm left alone with my thoughts.
"What am I gonna do here?"

"How am I gonna get myself
out of this situation?"

I thought, you know, "Is this
where I'm gonna just lay here

and accept fate and die?"

At that point,
arrogance kind of takes over,

and I say, "I'm not gonna just
sit and wait for, for help.

I'm gonna try and get out of this myself."
That's when I decide

that I'm gonna attempt
to do things on my own.

NARRATOR: Desperate to do something,
Andrew heads up the trail

in the opposite direction of Mackenzie,
calculating that if he and Mackenzie

go in opposite directions,
they'll increase the chance

that one of them will find help,

but this a gamble where the
odds are clearly against him.

DR. TAYLOR: Andrew should
sit still in one place.

When he decides to wander away,
several terrible things could happen.

First of all, the paramedics and Mackenzie
might not be able to find him,

and then they lose valuable time
for the treatment,

but also the increased exercise
that he's experiencing

is just spreading the venom around

and increasing the symptoms
and the damage to his body.

Even more importantly, rattlesnake bites
can sometimes lead to disorientation

and poor decision-making.
It can cause people to walk off a cliff

- or to become lost in the wilderness.
- ANDREW: I've been bit by a snake!

[dramatic music]

MACKENZIE: I'm running back
as fast as I can,

I'm screaming for help,
arms are flailing,

I'm trying to hopefully
have someone hear me

so they could do something,
if they were able to.

I think I was just kind of in my mind

with the worst-case scenario of,
like, is he gonna die from this?

What if I can't get him help fast enough?

I just, I really had no idea
what was gonna happen.

ANDREW: I was probably only going
for about two minutes or so,

and then I see a father and son
coming around the bend with bikes.

ANDREW: Hey! Hey!
I got bit by a snake.

I probably looked like a complete maniac.

I'm sure it crossed his mind
that this might be a ploy

of some crazed man out in the wilderness
to just steal his bike.

He did look down

and saw that I had
a puncture wound on my foot.

NARRATOR: Seeing Andrew's distress,
the father willingly hands over his bike.

- ANDREW: Thank you guys so much.
- NARRATOR: Andrew gets on

and begins the 6-mile ride
back down to the trailhead.

[heavy breathing]

ANDREW: So, I'm pedaling as much as I can.
At first it felt a little uncomfortable

because I had a bare foot on the pedal.

The pain hadn't really
set in at this point,

but I'm starting to feel
more and more delirious,

my motor functions
are starting to fail me,

I'm swerving from
side to side on the bike.

DR. TAYLOR: When Andrew
starts pedaling on that bike,

the muscles in his feet
are starting to squeeze

against the lymphatic vessels

and starting to push that venom
throughout the rest of the foot,

pushing it up the body.
It might sound like that's a good idea,

given that we didn't
want to have a tourniquet

to keep it in one spot,

however it's gonna be
the increase in his metabolism

that's going to lead to a lot
of exacerbation of his symptoms

and is going to increase the rate
at which the venom is attacking his body.

ANDREW: I had this, this weird feeling
that I was swelling up.

It was hard to breathe,
and my face was kind of going numb.

In fact, I had my mouth open like a dog

to try and open my airway
as much as possible.

And I was worried that
my throat was going to swell

and I might get to the point
where I could no longer breathe.

DR. TAYLOR:
Andrew starts to feel the impact

of what are probably
neurotoxic effects of the venom.

He's feeling tingling in his throat,
any difficulty breathing,

those sorts of things.

ANDREW: There is still
this thought in my mind

that I might die.

DR. TAYLOR: This massive
c*ck of venom proteins

has been injected,

and the body is recognizing
them as a foreign threat

and is responding with
inflammation, swelling,

sending white blood cells to the area
to help try to fight off this venom.

Mice and squirrels and so on
do experience similar effects.

They tend to die very rapidly
because they stop breathing,

due to the neurotoxic effects
of the venom.

MACKENZIE: So, I'm running
towards the trailhead,

but running 6 miles in hiking boots
in, like, 75-degree sun

wasn't really going
to happen that quickly.

At this point, I'm trying to stay calm

and ward off my thoughts
of "How bad is this,

what's gonna happen to him,

is he going to die,
is he going to lose a leg?"

And then I hear from behind me,
someone say...

ANDREW: Hey, babe.

MACKENZIE: And so I turn around,
and Andrew is on this bike.

He just kind of looks like he's
out for a leisurely stroll

and talking to me as though
nothing is happening

and we just happen to run by each other.

ANDREW: I remember her being very shocked
and almost in this state of disbelief

that I could be so casual
during this moment.

MACKENZIE: And I'm like, "Oh, my God."

I wanted to ask, like,
"Where did you get this bike?

What happened?"

and he's trying to just
sort of chat with me,

like, "How's it going?"

ANDREW: I remember her
just screaming at me.

- MACKENZIE: Go, go! Get out of here! Go!
- ANDREW: Okay, okay, okay.

MACKENZIE: Bike faster!
I love you!

ANDREW: I love you!

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Along the shore
of the Zambezi River,

a hippo attack

has left Kristen in desperate
need of medical attention.

RYAN: Could definitely see
that she had pretty extensive injuries,

but guides, they don't seem
to be necessarily trained

- on what to do at this point.
- KRISTEN: I asked for help,

but they did not seem very knowledgeable
in medical support.

I asked for what type
of medicine they might have,

and they brought me some
red pills for pain medicine.

I didn't know what they were,
and so I decided not to take any of them.

Let me sit here, I'll stand the pain,

but I was still fearful
that if I was bleeding out,

then the longer it took,
I might have less of a chance to survive.

DR. FRITSCH: There is a general
figure that goes around

that hippos k*ll
some 500 people each year.

However, because these attacks
take place in such rural areas,

it's unknown how accurate
these statistics are.

There's likely a lot of these
attacks that go undocumented.

NARRATOR: As for why the hippo
attacked Kristen in the first place,

Dr. Camille Fritsch has a theory.

DR. FRITSCH: Because hippos
are sleeping underwater,

you could easily startle them,
and when they surface,

they may make contact with the canoe,

even try and strike at the canoe
out of fear.

NARRATOR: Bleeding heavily
and with no help in sight,

Kristen is forced to advocate for herself.

KRISTEN: I instructed
the guides to get a tourniquet,

and they brought over a piece of fabric

and put the tourniquet on
the very top of my thigh,

and in the meantime, they were
trying to reach for help.

The guides' phones did not work

because we were too far
into the Zambezi River,

that their cell phones
were trying to connect

to Zambia instead of Zimbabwe,

and their cell phones don't have
that kind of service.

RYAN: That moment, it dawned on me
that, hey, my cell phone,

the one that she'd used to take
the selfie shortly before,

was in Kristen's pocket,

luckily realizing
it happens to be the pocket

of the leg that had not been attacked,
because the pocket of the one that was

was gone.

NARRATOR: As seasoned travelers,

Kristen and Ryan have
international cell service.

Somehow in the middle
of the Zambezi River,

they get a few faint bars of reception.

RYAN: But then it was,
"Who am I gonna call?"

So, I start trying to ask the guides,
"Who do I call? Who do I call?"

and I'm getting no response from them.
I think they're still in shock.

NARRATOR: Ryan calls the one number he has
that he thinks could be of help--

their hotel.

RYAN: I'm in a panic
trying to explain the situation,

and the person that answered the phone
seemed to only hear "Mr. Yaldor,"

so they transferred me
to Mr. Yaldor's room,

which wasn't gonna get me
where I needed to go,

'cause there's nobody there.

[phone ringing]

NARRATOR: Ryan calls the hotel back
and asks to speak with the manager,

who connects him with the tour company
to arrange for a helicopter rescue.

RYAN: It's very, very serious.
As fast as possible. Please, I need help.

So this was a little bit of a relief.

Things are maybe now
moving in the right direction.

You know, maybe we're gonna get
some help at this point.

KRISTEN: Ryan was just along my side

and holding my hand,
coordinating the helicopter.

RYAN: At that point,
she was communicating, she's conscious,

she's, she's perfectly aware
of what's going on,

could definitely see that she
had pretty extensive injuries.

We're just isolated,

and the only thing
that I can do at this point

is try and get her comfortable,
keep her calm,

and hope that somebody will come
as soon as possible.

KRISTEN: Why is it taking so long?
If it was on the way, we would hear it.

NARRATOR: After 45 minutes,
there is no sign of the helicopter.

Kristen has lost a lot of blood
and continues to get weaker.

RYAN: So, we're just waiting.
This seemed like forever.

We're looking in the sky,
looking in the blue sky.

You know, "Where is this helicopter,
where is it coming from?"

Because at this point, it's fair to say

there's a chance
that this wound could be fatal

and that Kristen might not make it.

And, lo and behold, eventually...

[rotors beating]

KRISTEN: I was relieved
to hear the helicopter.

[rotors beating]

They were able to land.
Nurses were able to come sustain me.

They prepare me on the stretcher,
and they have trouble

getting the stretcher into the helicopter
because it's a tourist helicopter.

RYAN: So, we're up and away.
She is not expressing that she's in pain,

but you could hear that the bumps
were not comfortable for her.

KRISTEN: We were then
transported by an ambulance

to the hospital.
The nurse was just taking my vitals

and writing down some details
about the incident.

We told them that it was my birthday,

and he sang me
"Happy Birthday" in the back.

PARAMEDIC: ♪ Happy birthday
to you, Kristen ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

NARRATOR: After receiving
emergency treatment

at a local hospital,

Kristen is put on
a medical transfer flight

to a trauma center in Johannesburg.

RYAN: So, the day started off
with a leisurely, calm birthday canoe

down the Zambezi River

and ended in a medical flight
to Johannesburg

to head to the number-one
trauma center in South Africa.

So, they whisk Kristen off,
she's getting her medical tests.

KRISTEN: They told me then

that I would immediately be
going into surgery

to repair the femur break
and also for the skin damage repair.

I don't really know what I was thinking.

I was thinking I was tired,
it's been a long day,

but I'm glad that I have help here
and that I wasn't going to lose my leg.

NARRATOR: Back in California,

after being bitten by
a southern Pacific rattlesnake,

Andrew Schacht reaches
the bottom of the trail

and spots the park ranger.

ANDREW: When I encounter the ranger,
I just kind of yell out and I say...

ANDREW: Hey, I got bit by a snake!

[cymbals]

I basically just fall off of the bike.
I try to stand up, but I can barely stand.

I kind of compare it to like being drunk,
except you're completely lucid.

As she begins to drive away,

I start getting muscle twitches
all over my body.

My neck is starting to
involuntarily contract.

She informs me that
I'm gonna be helivaced out,

and the first thing that I said was...

ANDREW: That's gonna be expensive.
I can't afford it.

I just always had these nightmares

that helicopter rides are gonna
be tens of thousands of dollars

and not always covered by insurance.

MACKENZIE: By the time I finally
sort of, like, limp into the trailhead,

he wasn't there,
and as I'm walking to the car,

I see this helicopter fly overhead,
and I just had this gut instinct

that, like, that helicopter
is here to pick up Andrew.

NARRATOR: Despite his financial concerns,
Andrew is put onto a helicopter

and flown to the nearest hospital.

ANDREW: In the helicopter, though,
the tourniquet started to really hurt.

I could look down,
and my foot increased maybe 30% in size.

DR. TAYLOR: It's been an hour and a half
since the envenomation.

Andrew has severe swelling.

The tourniquet was keeping
that potent venom in the foot

where it could be blocking the ability
of the blood to clot,

and that leads to a high probability
of tissue death or necrosis,

or even amputation

if the tissue damage
and necrosis is that bad.

ANDREW: By the time
that we got to the hospital,

they took the tourniquet off,
my leg was still very swollen,

the pain was just as intense
as it was before.

MACKENZIE: When I got to the hospital,
we give each other a hug.

ANDREW: We were both very
excited to see each other,

to see somebody that you know again
and to see somebody that you love.

We expected that it'd be a few hours,
and then she'd be able to drive me home.

NARRATOR: Little does Andrew know,
the battle is far from over.

Immediately he's given
a morphine drip for pain

and the doctors administer the antivenom,
but the symptoms persist.

ANDREW: I remember the nurses being like,

"My gosh, it just doesn't seem
like you're getting better,"

and the physician came in and said,

"Yeah, let's do
another round of antivenom."

NARRATOR: Despite dose
after dose of antivenom,

Andrew doesn't get better
and doctors transfer him

to nearby Loma Linda Hospital,
a facility in Southern California

that specializes in treating snake bites.

ANDREW: When I arrive at Loma Linda,

my leg, at that point,
had really begun to swell.

It was getting almost
a purplish hue to it.

MACKENZIE: It was obvious
it was getting worse.

It was starting to spread
all the way, you know, into his calf.

I mean, it just looked, like, not real.

It looked like someone
had Photoshopped his ankle.

ANDREW: They just continuously tell me

that they're gonna
administer more antivenom,

and it seems like it's just more antivenom
and more antivenom and more antivenom.

MACKENZIE: By the second day,

he'd become a bit of a celebrity
in the emergency room.

The toxicologist, he came by

and had told us that this
was the worst snake bite

he's ever seen.
One of the pharmacists,

she hand-delivered
the antivenom down to the nurses

because she kept getting
order after order after order

for the antivenom,

and she was like, "I have to
see what this is about."

ANDREW: I was very concerned
that, for some reason,

I was not responding well to the antivenom
and that I might end up losing my leg

or end up having something known
as compartment syndrome.

DR. TAYLOR:
Due to the severity of the bite

and also probably due to the
application of the tourniquet,

he's at high risk of compartment syndrome.

Compartment syndrome
is very, very serious.

It has to do with the idea
that severe, severe swelling

can put pressure on
blood vessels and nerves,

thereby blocking the flow of blood,

blocking nervous stimulation
to various tissues

and can cause death of those tissues.

This is a major problem because
Andrew could lose his foot.

MACKENZIE: By the third day,

they had actually had to
fly in more antivenom

from another hospital
because he'd used everything

that had already been
available at this hospital,

that is known for treating snake bites
in Southern California.

DR. TAYLOR: Andrew had
a really unusually high number

of vials of antivenom.
In any ER in the country,

a physician will start

with a certain number
of vials of antivenom.

After that, the symptoms dictate
how many more he's given.

So, if Andrew continues
to have terrible swelling,

terrible compartment syndrome,
terrible pain,

then they will continue to give him
antivenom to treat that.

ANDREW: I felt just
an incredible amount of despair.

I have a very disturbing-looking
photo of my foot

where my ankle is incredibly swollen
and the top of my foot is less so,

but I think it was
at the end of the third day,

the swelling began to drain.

I think it was reassuring to me,

you know, the swelling
seems to be receding

and I might get to a point
where I can get out of here.

Most snake bite victims
only need one or two doses.

In total I had 11,


MACKENZIE: Each dose of antivenom
consists of 10 separate vials,



which amounts to over
a hundred vials of antivenom.

[dramatic music]

NARRATOR: Back in Johannesburg,
Kristen is released from the hospital

and takes three medevac flights
to get back to Tampa.

For months, she undergoes a marathon
of surgeries and rehabilitation

to regain the use of her leg.

KRISTEN: I've had 19 surgeries,
mostly to help with the mobility

and the range of motion in my knee.
It bit me on my right leg,

all the way from one mark
across the back of my calf,

then sliced along the back,

one tooth mark puncture
up on the top of my thigh.

Then the entire skin was ripped off
from the middle of my thigh to the side.

NARRATOR: Though the damage inflicted on
Kristen was extensive,

Dr. Fritsch believes
that the hippo's actions

were purely defensive.

DR. FRITSCH: Hippos can be
extremely territorial,

so some things that maybe
seem foreign in the habitat

that they normally aren't
very acquainted with,

they may have a tendency
to attack those things,

especially if they're directly above them.
If they're attacking a kayak or a canoe,

it's because it's a foreign object.

It's unsure what it is,
and it's threatening to them.

RYAN: No ill will towards the hippo.
It's what they do.

We're in their environment,
we're in their territory.

And most of the time,
you respect their territory,

and they steer clear of you.

DR. FRITSCH: Because hippos and people
have this intertwined lifestyle

in these more disadvantaged
parts of Africa

and in these large river systems
that pass through

these otherwise dry and arid
savanna systems,

we see these interactions
sometimes go badly,

and those few interactions that go badly

are the ones that kind of
come to the forefront,

whereas 99% of those interactions
aren't so bad.

ANDREW: We expected this to be
a leisurely hike in the woods,

and that is not how things turned out.

You know, I think this
experience taught me

that you should always make sure
that you're at least briefly knowledgeable

about any scenario in the woods,

because, you know,
it's not always very forgiving.

MACKENZIE: Foremost,
this experience taught me

what you should and should not do
when you get bitten by a snake.

It also taught both of us
you can never be too prepared.

DR. TAYLOR: At any given moment
in Los Angeles,

there's thousands of people
out on the trails,

enjoying them, and not
noticing the rattlesnakes

that are hiding around them.
In the case of Andrew,

a number of different factors
came together

to result in this horrific envenomation.

First of all,
he just happened to be walking

around this blind corner
that was in the shade

the same time as the rattlesnake

was cruising out to find
its spot for the day,

and he happened to step right on it,
and he happened to be wearing shoes

that were not thick leather boots.
But also it's May.

May is peak rattlesnake season

in terms of encountering
rattlesnakes out on the trail,

and that's because the male rattlesnakes
are all jacked up on testosterone

and they're out looking
for female rattlesnakes.

So, you just have a greater chance
of actually stumbling into one.

And then those things

combined with the errors that
were made in the first aid

resulted in what was
a pretty serious snake bite.

If someone's bitten by a rattlesnake,
stay calm, call 911 right away,

do not apply a tourniquet,
do not suck the venom out.

The only way you can
treat a rattlesnake bite

is to get to the physician
as quickly as possible

and be treated with antivenom.

Andrew is really lucky
that he still has his foot

and even luckier
that he still has his life.

ANDREW: I actually didn't know
much about snakes before,

and during my time in the hospital,

I've almost gained
an appreciation for snakes,

and I don't at all
blame the snake that bit me,

- after a 200-pound man stepped on it.
- MACKENZIE: We do joke about the fact

that I was willing to suck
the blood off of his sweaty feet

without even thinking twice,
and I guess that's funny

because it's just a really great showing

of what people will do
for the people they love. [chuckles]

ANDREW: Looking back,
I just don't even know how I'd ever do it

without you, Mackenzie,

so I thank you from
the very bottom of my heart

- forever and ever.
- MACKENZIE: It's just in the past,

and it's something that happened,

but we just have a cool story
to tell people now.

RYAN: So, one of the goals
that I had set up for Kristen

a year after her accident
was we'll get you back up and running,

and so I signed her up for the Disney 5K.

She said, "Well, if I'm running it,
you're gonna wear a hippo costume,"

and I said, "I'll wear anything you want
if it gets you up and going."

KRISTEN: So, I worked towards it,
and in January of 2020,

- I ran the Disney 5
- K,

and he did so along my side,
with him in a hippo costume.

Hippo attack,
three Learjet flights,

a helicopter ride,
multiple surgeries,

can't beat that.

Hey, who got two, three Learjets
in one birthday trip? [laughs]

RYAN: I'd definitely say, I mean,
it strengthened our bond.

KRISTEN: Just happy he was there
to be with me, comfort me,

take care of me, keep me calm.

PRODUCER: What is the craziest
part of this story?

KRISTEN: The craziest part
is that I was attacked by a hippopotamus.