After leaving the hospital in a wheelchair Thursday evening, second-grader Clarissa Vega is back home.
She was bitten by a snake on her foot in her Miramar backyard the day before. The 7-year-old was opening up a storage bench when it happened.
"When I opened it, the water moccasin snake was under the couch, and it was on my toes, and it bit me," Vega said. "It was like, if something clawed 1,000 sharp teeth and it stayed in there. It was very, very hurtful."
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"She said 'Mom, a snake bit me' and it took me by surprise," Vega's mother Carmen Alvarez said. "I thought she was joking. Till she said, 'look at my foot.' She was bleeding."
Carmen Alvarez rushed her daughter to the hospital. She spent the night at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, where she received four treatments of anti-venom with friends and family nearby.
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Her foot was very swollen and bruised.
"When I heard it was poison-ness I was freaking out because I thought I was going to die," Vega said.
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Family members found the snake and killed it – hitting it in the head with a golf club. Now, the second-grader, who was never afraid of snakes before, has a piece of advice for South Floridians.
"Wear your shoes when you go outside and try to be careful because snakes come out from the Everglades," Vega said.
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