"Austin is still currently in the hospital with breathing problems his oxygen keeps dropping and he still can’t walk very well," but he is slowly getting better.
Austin Bellamy, 20, was helping a friend trim the branches of a lemon tree on August 27th, 2022, when he accidentally cut into a nest full of African killer bees. Agitated, the bees swarmed around his head, neck, and shoulders, his mother, Shawna Carter, told Fox19Now. He was stung more than 20,000 times and he ingested several of the bees, too.
His grandmother Phyllis Edwards and his uncle, Dustin Edwards, watched the horrifying event unfurl from the ground. “When he started cutting them, that’s when the bees came out, and he tried to anchor himself down, and he couldn’t,” Phyllis recalled. “He was hollering, ‘Help! Help me! Help!’ And nobody would help him.”
Neither Phyills nor Dustin could get to Austin and help him because they themselves were being attacked by the bees. “I was going to try and climb the ladder to get to Austin... I seen how high he was... but I couldn’t get to him because I was surrounded in bees,” she said.
Austin Bellamy is fighting for his life at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center after being stung 20,000 times by bees >> https://t.co/hAee0oE3M0 pic.twitter.com/AyYlcelINx
— FOX19 NOW (@FOX19) August 31, 2022
Shawna, meanwhile, passed out the moment she got the call informing her of what had happened. “It was just too much for me to take,” she said. “It looked like he had a black blanket on his head down to his neck, down to his arms.”
A firefighter from Ripley Fire Department named Craig was able to rescue Austin before he was rushed to the hospital for treatment, the mother said. He was airlifted to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center while Phyliss was brought to an area hospital in an ambulance. He was then put on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma.
“So he had bees inside of him, and they suctioned bees out of him until Sunday morning,” the mother explained, adding that he had ingested around 30 bees. She then took a moment to thank the firefighter who saved her son's life. “When I think of Craig, Craig is a lifesaver,” she said. “He’s Austin’s angel. He saved Austin’s life.”
A man in Ohio is in a coma after being stung by 20,000 bees and doctors had to suction bees *out* of his body… prayers for Austin Bellamy and wow do i have a new fear ! 😭😭
— Miss Ell 🇺🇸🤠🌻✨ (@lovinglyprolife) August 31, 2022
Thankfully, Austin is expected to make a full recovery, said doctors.
“I just want to tell him that I love him and I miss him and he’s my boy,” Dustin said.
The mom also set up a GoFundMe to raise money for Austin's treatment. "Hi my name is Shawna Carter I am setting up this fundraiser for my son Austin Bellamy."
The latest updates on the fundraising page revealed that "Austin is still currently in the hospital with breathing problems his oxygen keeps dropping and he still can’t walk very well still very wobbly but a lot of the swelling has gone down a whole heck of a lot."
Austin Bellamy's GoFundMe page explains that the young man was stung by African killer bees 'over 20,000 times' on August 27, 2022 'in a tragic tree accident' https://t.co/r0NR9iG2r6
— TRT World (@trtworld) September 1, 2022
Hopefully, Austin makes a full recovery in no time.
References:
https://www.fox19.com/2022/08/31/tri-state-man-coma-after-getting-stung-20k-times-by-bees/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/kghqa7-medical-expenses?qid=bcb17ccf3823e7544119246966b490d8
Cover Image Source: GoFundMe | Medical expenses
