Titus Gurnell is a Boy Scout, an Honor Roll student, a classical piano player and now you can add life saver to his list of accomplishments.
When his neighbor Valeria Chavez was bitten by a venomous snake, Titus quickly jumped into action. “There was an excruciating pain,” Chavez recalled. “It started swelling, and it was already turning colors.
Titus rushed next door to help. “She was asking if she was gonna die,” he said.
The young man said he called on his Boy Scout training as well as what he’d learned about snake bites watching cable TV. He told his mom (my sister Tami) to pull a shoelace from a boot.
“I took the lace out, wrapped it around her leg a few times, and then tied it off,” Titus said.
“For being so young, he seemed like he calmed me down,” Chavez recalled. “He knew what he was doing. It made me feel comfortable.”
Dr. Kurt Kleinschmidt, chief toxicologist at Parkland Memorial Hospital, said a wide, loosely-applied tourniquet can slow the spread of venom, though it’s unclear if that has a medical benefit. He strongly advises the public to leave that technique to medical professionals.
I can’t tell you how proud I am of my nephew for his quick thinking and bravery under pressure.
