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Woman Bit By Rattlesnake Wasn't Sure She'd Make It

BERTHOUD, Colo. (CBS4) - A Wyoming woman who survived a Rattlesnake bite in Boulder County is now able to share her story and is warning others.

Kim Rees was bit while biking in the Rabbit Mountain Open Space area, located north of Boulder and just east of Lyons.

Eight days after the incident, Rees told CBS4 she was surprised by the mental toughness and strength it has taken for her to survive.

"I have literally hundreds of people praying for me but what it came down to was me, praying for me," said Rees.

Rees lives in Wyoming but has been staying in the town of Berthoud recently. During a bike ride on the popular trails of Rabbit Mountain she stopped to walk across a field.

"It was just a sticker -- a sharp stab, and for about 5 minutes that's really all I felt," she described.

Rees never saw the snake coming -- there was no rattle, no warning, just the sudden sharp feeling of its fang.

"It felt like my tongue was growing and my teeth were growing, and just weird," she said.

Rees did everything she could to keep herself calm, knowing her throat could swell. EMTs first responded then flew her to Boulder Community Hospital.

"I just started taking pictures of the EMTs and inside the plane and the pilot and my foot, and all the green and pretty that was outside the windows," she said, all the while not knowing whether she would make it.

rattlesnake bite Kim Rees
Kim Rees's leg after the bite (credit: CBS)

To her surprise, doctors told her she would not need anti-venom, and that it might actually make her feel worse. After searing pain and a second hospital stay, Rees said she's finally feeling better.

She hopes no one else ever feels the pain that she's survived.

"It is torture to be in that much pain. If you don't know God you're going to find him pretty darn quick."

Rees warns others to "dress appropriately and stay on the trails where you can see what's around you."

Rattlesnakes are common in Boulder County, but the sheriff's office says people are more likely to be killed by lightning than by snake bites.

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