It is relaxing and awe-inspiring to swim in the ocean, but it is also important to remember that it can be dangerous. Humans are merely visitors in ocean creatures’ homes. One Florida woman knows this all too well.
Kristie Cataffo-O’Brien was wading in the water with her husband Thomas O’Brien at Bahia Beach in the Tampa Bay area when she got stung by a stingray. Thomas helped keep her calm until help could arrive. She was taken to a local hospital where she was treated and is recovering from her ordeal.
“I felt something sting me right away,” Kristie explained. “I felt like it was a jellyfish maybe or something, but it was super, super painful. I started to stand up, and that’s when [my husband] was like, ‘No, don’t move at all, there’s a stingray and it’s on you.'”
Thomas kept Kristie calm while waiting the 45 minutes for emergency services to arrive. When they got to the hospital, her doctors removed the barb and told the couple how lucky Kristie was. The barb came within 3 centimeters of piercing Kristie’s lung.
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Kristie was put on medication to fight off the venom and any infection she might have gotten from the incident. It is possible she may have some nerve damage but it is still early in her recovery.
Kristie urges the public to stay vigilant when in the ocean. “We’re kind of at the mercy of the marine life,” she stated. “This is their territory, it’s not our territory. I lived in Florida for a very long time. You never think anything like that can happen, and I’m still in shock."
