Kristie O’Brien, Florida woman impaled by stingray while wading at Ruskin’s Bahia Beach lucky to be alive after piercing barely misses her lung.
A Florida woman wading in the water escaped with her life intact after she was impaled by a stingray – with the sea creature missing her lungs by just four inches.
Kristie O’Brien of Apollo Beach was visiting Ruskin’s Bahia Beach with her husband Thomas on Tuesday when she waded into knee deep water only to suddenly feel a stinging sensation in her back.
When she stood up, a huge stingray barb was protruding from her shoulder, its venomous spine puncturing her skin, with pictures from the hospital revealing how lucky Kristie was to still be alive.
‘I actually thought I was going to die’
She was rushed to St Joseph’s Main hospital in Tampa where the trauma team removed the barb and treated her to counter the venom, FOX13 reported.
‘Yesterday while I was a Little Harbor in Apollo Beach I was impaled by a stingray’ O’Brien wrote on Instagram.
‘This stingray tried to pull a Steve Irwin, and almost pierced my lung. A near miss by only a few inches.
‘I have never been so scared and actually thought I was going to die, but Thomas was by my side and kept me calm’ she added.
Observation week
O’Brien is currently in hospital where she will remain for a further 7 days to ensure she did not pick up a bacterial infection from the water.
As a longtime Florida resident, O’Brien said she is not afraid of getting back into the water.
‘I’ll go back in the water again, probably (just) not in the bay. I probably won’t be swimming in the bay,’ she said.
‘But I mean, stingrays are out there and we’re in their environment’ she added.
Based on the color and size, the creature was likely a Southern stingray which, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is a non-aggressive species usually of little danger to humans.
