Mum left fighting for her life after picking up 'beautiful' bug triggered 'one in a million' reaction
A mum almost died after picking up a bug and feeling a burning sensation spread through her body a few seconds later.
Antoinette Webb had been visiting Fort Knox with her children when she spotted a 'berry green, beautiful beetle', according to WABI 5, picking it up and telling the diminutive bug 'woah, you're so pretty'.
Unfortunately for the 44-year-old mum she almost immediately 'felt burning through her body' and realised she was going to need to get help.
She walked up a hill towards the gift shop, ignoring the winding path and preferring to go directly upwards, where she knew there would be more people who could aid her.
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Fortunately she met Dean Martin, executive director of Friends of Fort Knox, who had spent time as an army medic and was able to tend to her while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
Dean and staff member Alex gave Antoinette some Benadryl and stayed with her until the ambulance came while his wife Sherry looked after Antoinette's children, nine-year-old twins Ella and Jonah.
He said the mum passed out from a constricted airway and her lips had turned blue, while she also broke out in hives, telling the Daily Mail she stopped breathing.
The bug she picked up was a six-spotted tiger beetle, a non-venomous insect which gave Antoinette a 'one in a million' allergic reaction that almost killed her.
Antoinette's memory of what happened after she reached the top of the hill was fuzzy, but she credits Dean Martin with saving her life as she believes the Benadryl allowed her to hang on for long enough that she could be administered four epinephrine shots.
“I was just bawling. Because of you they have their mum today," Webb said, returning to Fort Knox with her family 24 hours after she'd had her reaction to picking up the bug.
“I just started crying, like right now. When I saw him, I immediately - I knew I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.
“It happened at the bottom of the hill. I made it to the top right here and that was it. That’s all I remember."
Dean also drove the woman's car to hospital so she wouldn't have to go through the rigmarole of getting it back, saying he was sure the mum 'would’ve done the same for me' if he'd been in trouble.
"I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for them," Antoinette said about the staff at Fort Knox.
"They acted fast, they knew exactly what to do. I’m just so grateful, I’m just so grateful.
"If you guys come to Fort Knox, just know that you will be taken care of and your children will be taken care of."
She also thanked ambulance crews from Bucksport and Stockton Springs for their part in saving her life.
Joe Harker