Woman Survives Poisonous Stingray Impaled In Her Back

A mother of three in Florida who was impaled by a venomous stingray said she thought she was “going to die” just like famous “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin.

Instead, Kristie O'Brien survived being stabbed in her back by the creature after wading in knee-deep water at Ruskin, Florida’s Bahia Beach, according to FOX13 News.

Both the quick actions of paramedics and the fact that she didn’t pull the stingray’s barb out herself have been given as reasons why O'Brien remains alive today.

"As soon as I hit the water, I felt like I had been stung by something," O'Brien reportedly said.

After she got out of the water, her husband was stunned to see that a stingray was hanging from her back, with its venomous barb sticking into her shoulder, FOX13 reports.

O'Brien believes the barb went about four inches deep into her and that it missed her lung by just centimeteres.

“I remember saying, ‘I’m going to black out,’” O’Brien told 7News Miami. “I know they had put the IV in while I was still standing on the beach because I told them I need fluids, I need pain medicine, I’m about to pass out, I need some oxygen.”

Beloved television show host and animal lover Steve Irwin sadly passed away after he was stabbed in the heart by a stingray in 2006. O'Brien says she thought of his fate while dealing with her own stingray attack.

"I was trying to stay as calm as I could," O'Brien told FOX13. "But I was certain that I was going to die because, I mean, like everyone has like this picture of Steve Irwin when he literally was punctured and his chest."

Paramedics reportedly cut the stingray’s tail off at its base while she was in the water and then the barb was carefully removed by a trauma team at a nearby hospital. O'Brien is still undergoing treatment to rid herself of the stingray’s venom.

She is expected to remain in the hospital for a week while recovering. A GoFundMe account has been set up to aid her family with medical bills.