AN ADDER bite at a country park nearly proved fatal for a man after he suffered a severe allergic reaction.

David Cook was walking through Cudmore Grove, in East Mersea, when he accidently trod on the snake, who reacted with a nasty bite.

Within minutes, Mr Cook collapsed as his body went into anaphylactic shock.

He probably owes his life to Essex Air Ambulance staff, who rushed him to hospital in time for doctors to give him life-saving treatment.

Mr Cook, from Essex, said: “If the air ambulance had not come for me, I would have snuffed it.

“My friend tried to warn me, but it was too late. It was a freak occurrence, because we had turned suddenly and must have been walking parallel to where it was laying.

“I felt something like a nail going through my foot, and saw this huge adder making its escape. I thought the best thing to do was go back to the lodge, as it was not far away, and then have someone drive me to hospital.

“But I came over dizzy and fell down, and then started to fall unconscious. My wife went to get help while my friend bravely tried to suck the venom out – he had to be checked out as well!”

A first responder was on the scene within minutes, swiftly followed by an ambulance, who called for the air ambulance.

Mr Cook, 57, remembers little of what happened, after he collapsed in August 2010, but recalls looking up and seeing the stationary rotor blades, and being taken from the helicopter into Colchester General Hospital. He spent more than four hours in a resuscitation unit, and a further four days in the cardiac unit.

He left hospital with his right leg swollen to twice its normal size and was unable to work until November. He was unable to put his shoe on, walk, or drive for several weeks after leaving hospital.

Mr Cook continued: “It felt like it was going to burst. It was as if someone had smashed it with a sledgehammer and the pain was unbelievable. I thought at one point, they were going to have to chop it off.”

After recovering, Mr Cook and his wife began volunteering for the air ambulance.

They are supporting the Essex Air Ambulance in an appeal, backed by the Gazette, for readers to raise £25,000 by September for a critical care patient monitor.

He said: “It’s quite rare, but I had an anaphylactic shock and went down within three minutes – now I carry an epipen, which is emergency treatment for anaphylactic shock.

“Places like Mersea Island do get cut off by tides, and trying to negotiate rush-hour traffic is tricky – if they had taken me by road, I may have died.

“Essex is largely rural and you could be a long way from help. It could be anything, a heart attack, broken ankle or falling from a horse. Often the air ambulance is the only way to get them to hospital quickly. “We were aware of the air ambulance before, but we didn’t know quite how much they rely on fundraising and donations, as they get hardly any support from the Government. It’s a remarkable service.”

l To donate to the appeal send cheques, payable to Essex Air Ambulance, to Newsquest Patient Monitor Appeal, Essex Air Ambulance, The Business Centre, Earls Colne Business Park, Earls Colne, Essex, CO6 2NS.

Or call 0845 2417 690, go to essexairambulance.uk.com or text MNTR12, followed by the amount you would like to give (e.g. £10) to 70070.