01x03 - No Time to be Terrified

[bunniefuu]

[suspenseful music]

ALYSON: It was my very first
time in the Grand Canyon.

[bird screeches]

True backpacking, back country,
backpacking in the Grand Canyon.

Just thinking where am I,
what did I get myself into.

[screams]

NARRATOR: Grand Canyon National Park,

one of the most awe inspiring wonders
of the natural world.

29-year-old Alyson Redmond
and her father Dennis

are here to embark on an intense,
five day, father-daughter hike

to the bottom of the big hole.

REDMOND: My name is Alyson Redmond,
and I'm from Reno, Nevada.

I love to practice yoga,
and I love to rock climb.

A friend just took me randomly one day,
saying that I was athletic,

and I thought I'd enjoy it,
and I just kept going to the gym.

My dad is super athletic, he'll just
wake up at the crack of dawn to go hiking.

He doesn't stop. The last time
I tried racing him, I broke my arm.

[laughs]

Well, my name is Dennis Redmond,
and I'm retired now.

I live in Scottsdale, Arizona.
We have five children.

Alyson is number four
in the line, she's just very active,

very outgoing
and always up for an adventure.

So this was going to be, you know,
kind of a father-daughter adventure.

NARRATOR: They start their descent
from Monument Point on the North Rim.

Having done this hike
many times before, Dennis leads the group.

Alright, let's go kids.

NARRATOR: Behind, his daughter Alyson,
their friend Scott,

his daughter Samantha,
and her boyfriend, Nick.

DENNIS: The way we planned our hike
was day one, park at the trail head,

hike down about five miles
to our first campsite.

NARRATOR: Although an experienced hiker,
Alyson has trained hard for this.

Her first descent into the Grand Canyon.

ALYSON: As I was hiking, I was just amazed
just looking down at the Canyon.

It was just awe inspiring,

you have all these different shades
of reds and hues of greens,

and just thinking to myself, like,

"Girl, you fall, it's not only going
to hurt, but this is super precarious."

DENNIS: The Grand Canyon is anything
but easy, it is a rugged place to hike.

Rocks and ledges and whatnot,

you never know what you're
going to step into.

NARRATOR: After their descent,
the group begins a demanding hike

along the Red Wall,
a trail that leads across the Canyon

to an oasis called Thunder River.

ALYSON: The Red Wall's a couple of miles,
just treacherous, rocky.

There were some little critters,
some lizards,

we saw some condors, and it was
getting really, really, really hot,

easily 90 degrees plus,
really relying on my poles.

DENNIS: I prefer to use walking sticks,

it's nice for support,
and if you ever decide to sit down,

I always use my hiking pole
to just kind of tap around the rocks.

Scorpions, any other venomous-type
creatures could be crawling around.

Thinking of things that may bite you
is absolutely part of your plan.

DR. TAYLOR: I'm Dr. Emily Taylor,

I'm a Professor of Biological Sciences
at Cal Poly.

The Grand Canyon area, in general,
is a biodiversity hot spot.

This is a very, very,
very harsh, hot desert,

so you do tend to have
a number of highly adapted species,

including venomous species.

There are centipedes down there,
rattlesnakes, scorpions,

there are these water bugs
that inflict a painful bite.

There are indeed a number
of different things

that are potentially lethally dangerous
to a person, if they bite them.

DENNIS: Then we start making our way
towards Thunder River, as it's called.

[water running]

ALYSON: It's incredible
because you have this huge canyon wall

and this little tiny hole,
where just water's gushing out of it.

Ah, we did it.

ALYSON: Taking off the pack, being
underneath the shade, it felt amazing.

Just a true oasis.

That was my favorite place
in the world at the time.

DENNIS: We're having lunch,
we're making smoothies.

It's just really enjoyable.

ALYSON: At this point, everyone
had changed out of their hiking shoes

and had put their water shoes on.

We start looking at the waterfall,
taking pictures of the waterfall.

I see Sam,
and Nick is taking a ton of pictures.

SAM: Alright, Nick it's your turn.

Alright, thanks...

ALYSON: I grab the phone,
and I'm next to this bush.

It's thorny and super, super green,
and the whole time, I'm taking pictures.

Picture, after picture,
after picture, after picture.

Okay, let me get a different angle,
hold on.

And then that's when I took
a couple of steps, and...

[screams]

I feel just this searing pain,
a thorn, like, go in and come out,

and I'm just stumbling forward,
and just, like, "What was this?"

It's like when you get alcohol
in a paper cut,

it's just that kind of sharp--
all of a sudden, just bam, pain.

Of course, I'm going
to stub my freaking toe

in the middle of the Grand Canyon.

- SAMANTHA: Al?
- DENNIS: You okay?

Everybody's coming together
to see what's going on.

I told him, like, this is--

"I'm in a lot of pain."
And then I took my shoe off,

and I look down at my toe,
and the blood looked watered down.

Definitely thought to myself,
"This looks weird."

DENNIS: Well, frankly, we didn't know
what we were onto

because there was just
a single little puncture.

Did she get poked by a stick, or did she
get poked by some other insect?

ALYSON: I had no idea what had injured me.

No sights, no sounds,
just the instant searing sensation.

It was just a huge mystery.

SCHOENEMAN: Spear fishing, for me,
is the coolest sport in the word.

You're in the water, you're holding
your breath, trying to make as,

you know, little disturbance as possible,
surrounded by other life

and seeing all the beauty nature has,

but if you want to catch fish, well,
there's risks you're willing to take.

I've been doing it my whole life,
and I guess it was bound to happen.

NARRATOR: Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula,

famous for warm waters
and sun drenched resorts.

A popular destination for fishermen
from all over the world.

Like Houston native, Jonathan Shoeneman,

who has been fishing
here since he was a kid.

SCHOENEMAN: My name's Jonathan Shoeneman.

I'm originally from Houston, Texas, and
my mother's originally from Mexico City,

so it was cool because I grew up
in between Mexico and Houston.

I grew up in the country,
so my whole life was hunting and fishing

and catching armadillos,
anything I could catch with my hands.

It was amazing, being able to fish
as a child, and loading the boat

with big dorado or big white marlin,
and catching not one, but a lot.

NARRATOR: Travis Simmons
is Jonathan's childhood friend

and long time fishing buddy.

He's always been like an older
brother to me.

We were always fishing
and causing a little trouble,

making a little ruckus
in the neighborhood.

Jonathan has always been
like just a free spirit,

he thrives for fishing and for adventure.

All he really cared about was like
the next fish he was going to catch.

NARRATOR: It's 2016.

Jonathan turns his lifelong love
for fishing into a business,

selling his catch to local restaurants
around Cancun.

He convinces Travis to join him.

SIMMONS: So I decided to move down to
Cancun, and we had been fishing everyday.

The weather was great for a few weeks,

and then all of a sudden,
we had terrible weather

for like a week and a half, so I was,
like, "Travis let's go to the lagoon,

let's go snook fishing."

[boat engine running]

NARRATOR: On a breezy September afternoon,

Jonathan and Travis
head out to Nichupte Lagoon,

an area home to many
coveted species of fish, like snook,

tarpon, and bone fish, but such bounty
also attracts a host of predators.

Jaguars, ocelots and crocodiles
frequent the region.

SCHOENEMAN: We fished for a couple
of hours, and no luck, nothing,

and I had that feeling that the fish
were going to be stacked up

in this little kind of cove,
where it goes into a freshwater spring.

So it's kind of-- It's a perfect area
for all life to be there.

SIMMONS: We anchored off
about maybe 30 yards from the tree line,

where the roots and the mangroves were.

He's already changing and getting
geared up, putting his weight belt on,

snorkel, mask, and his g*n ready.

SCHOENEMAN: So I was like,
"Let's get in the water,"

and he was like, "Oh, I don't know."

SIMMONS: He was like,
"Oh, no, I've done this before.

It's okay, you know, it's no problem."

I mean I've heard him say that before,
and we find ourselves in situations.

- And I told Travis...
- If you want to catch the fish,

you've got to become the fish.

There's warning signs everywhere.

I mean, I love Jonathan like a brother,

but sometimes, he doesn't
have the best ideas,

but I didn't want him to have all the fun,

so I decide to go ahead
and make the plunge.

I didn't pay attention to Travis,
you know, he stayed on the outside

and I was going deep in the mangroves.

It was one of those days, I can...

I'll never forget how much fish
were actually there.

You go in, and it'd be like schools of 40,


It was easy, just pull your g*n back
and aim and pick one out and sh**t.

Snook, if you sold directly to restaurant,
you can get 180 to 200 pesos.

I just couldn't stop,
I kept on going, going, going.

Obviously, when that's happening,

I'm not paying attention to anything,
I don't care what's next to me.

I'm guessing I had ten, 12 fish.
My string was pretty much full,

I was going back to unload it,
and my last dive, I didn't see anything,

so I'm swimming out, coming out of
the mangroves with the g*n to my side.

Ready to take that first inhale of air,
and right as I came up,

inches from my face,
a croc was staring at me.

All I could see was the beak
at the front of its mouth, and then...

Bam. [claps hands]
Got me face first.

[crocodile growl]

[tense music]

SCHOENEMAN: So I'm face first,
looking into the crocs mouth.

Like completely there,
I couldn't see anything

just a little bit to the left and right
out of the corners of my eyes,

and it just felt like getting hit
over the head, then putting it in a vice,

just crunching down harder
and harder and harder.

I'm guessing the crocodile was probably 12
to 13-foot-long,

you know 400 to 500 pounds.

It was just a solid beast of a dinosaur,
just massive.

NARRATOR: The crocodile, 200 million years
of evolution has turned this animal

into one of earth's most lethal hunters.

This amazing creature can grow to over
15 feet long, swim 20 miles per hour,

and hold its breath underwater
for up to 60 minutes.

Dr. Marisa Tellez is a biologist

and director of
the Crocodile Research Coalition.

DR TELLEZ:
When you are in crocodile habitat,

the last thing you want
to do is attract the crocodiles.

For example, tying the
fish on a line where it's wiggling

and it's dying prey,
and it's going to attract

the crocodile through these ISO's,
the Integumentary Sensory Organs.

These are nerve endings that are around

the crocodile's head
as well as along the body.

So, likely, the ISO's of the
croc are just firing off,

and he's just going closer
towards the dying fish,

and Jonathan's coming towards him,
and so as Jonathan's coming up,

the crocodile kind of
feels something closer.

For all he knows, it's just a big fish,
and he clamps down on Jonathan.

I'm face on with a croc,
like completely looking down the barrel.

Nose, everything perfectly
center inside his mouth.

I remember the smell of it,
it just smells of that dirty rotten water.

It really smelled of death.

And just hearing the hissing noise,

[hisses]

and seeing the row of teeth
and just the freckles in his throat

and then the crunching of my bones.

[crunching]

DR TELLEZ: When the crocodile chomped
on Jonathan's head,

that was anywhere
from 2,000 to 4,000 lbs per square inch,

and as Jonathan is struggling,

that crocodile is actually gripping
even more.

And then it rolled me,
and I was, like, "Oh, crap."

I let go of my spear g*n,
and I took my weight belt off,

and I started bracing myself from the mud

because as I was trying-- like, it rolled
me and kept on trying to pull me under.

DR TELLEZ: For an alligator or crocodile,
the death roll, it serves two purposes,

it can either help take
chunks of a large prey,

or it could also be used
to injure an opponent.

SCHOENEMAN: So it's crunching down on me,
so you think,

"Okay, I'm going to go for his eyes."

So I'm putting both hands up there,

I was like realizing the size
of its head, how big it was.

Like I couldn't touch, so I'm feeling
the eyes, and with both of my thumbs,

I'm just gouging him in his eyes,
and nothing was happening.

DR TELLEZ: The eyes are
a vulnerable spot on a crocodile

that in some previous attacks,

people actually punching
the eyes of a crocodile

or an alligator, the alligator
or the crocodile will release.

Unfortunately,
in this particular scenario,

the croc did not loosen its grip.

SCHOENEMAN:
He was just biting down, biting down,

and I could just hear the crunching
of my teeth breaking.

At the time, I thought it
was the croc's teeth breaking,

and he's just clamping down
harder and harder and harder,

and I'm seeing-- the water's normally
this kind of dark tea color,

and then I'm bleeding so much
that it managed to actually turn red.

NARRATOR: At an oasis deep in the Canyon,

Alyson Redmond suffers a small needle-like
wound in her foot, unsure how she got it.

ALYSON: Looking around,
I was thinking it was a thorn

from the bushes
that were next to the creek.

DR TAYLOR: There's a number of different
things it could have been,

it could have been a thorn in the plants.

However, the Grand Canyon
is in the middle of a desert,

and so just like people
who visit the Grand Canyon

are going to be attracted
to the river as a place

where they can fill up their water bottles
and cool off, so are the animals.

The water in the Colorado River attracts
tons of wildlife,

including a number of different things
that are potentially dangerous,

but certainly, if I was Alyson,
I would want to be thinking in my brain,

that's probably a plant,
because otherwise,

the actual implications would mean
that I'm days from help,

and I've been just bitten
by something that could k*ll me.

ALYSON: At that point,
there was a lot of pain in my foot

and my toe,
and it looked a little swollen.

Other people at the waterfall mentioned
that they had seen something

called a water beetle, and I guess these
water beetles have a pretty nasty sting.

DR TAYLOR: I think that the reason
that the group thought

it could be a water beetle is
because there was a single puncture wound,

which water beetles can do.
There's a lot of lore about water beetles,

that they're these crazy predatory
beetles that walk around stabbing people,

that's not necessarily true, but you know,
it could have potentially stabbed her

and gotten that sort of pain reaction,
but it wouldn't have been that painful.

They would never induce
the amount of pain that she was in.

- My foot is throbbing. It hurts so bad.
- How does it feel?

I can do this,
I think I'm going to be okay.

But I didn't want to be
a burden on the rest of the group.

DENNIS:
This is where, when you're the father,

ultimately whatever happens here,
I'm going to feel responsible,

so I've got to start thinking,
"Are we doing the right evaluation?"

NARRATOR: They gave Alyson
basic first aid treatment,

but with the day running out, it's vital
that they get to their campsite,

a strenuous quarter mile hike away.

DENNIS: So we decided
we're going to continue our hike

because where we were at,
definitely, there was no way

anyone's going to get us out of there.

I knew that there's no way
that anybody could carry me

because of the kind
of treacherous terrain.

I was able, at this point,
to still be able to put my hiking boot on.

DENNIS: Of course, I mean, for a lack
of a better term, interrogating her,

saying, "What's going on?
How are you feeling?"

"I can do this, I think I'll be okay,"
and she gets up on her hiking poles,

and she just kind of hobbled down, and
she's not complaining, per say, at all,

so that's sort of some
of those indicators that--

"Well, maybe she's hopefully
going to be okay."

ALYSON: I can feel it swelling,
I can feel it getting bigger.

Every step I took, not only
was painful to put weight on,

but also extremely heavy
every time I picked it up.

Just never complaining.

Not as if it's excruciating pain,
that "I can't do this," and...

"No, I can go,
I'll go down to the next camp ground."

She's just tougher than nails, this kid.

DR TAYLOR: Alyson keeps on hiking,

so it sounds like she was a really tough
woman and wanted to just walk it off,

which, if it was a wasp
or a water beetle or something,

she indeed would have been able to,
but as time progresses,

and the pain becomes really unbearable,

this is the first signal that it probably
was something more serious,

and then as she continues to hike on it,
even with the severe pain of her body

that's trying to tell her,
"Don't put weight on this foot,

see to this injury,
take care of this injury."

That's the purpose of pain in our bodies.

By ignoring that,
we're ignoring the signal from our body

that something is seriously wrong.

NARRATOR: Despite the escalating pain
in her foot, Alyson reaches the campsite.

The group sets up tents for the night,

still hoping this mysterious
wound is nothing,

and she'll be better come morning.

ALYSON: My dad set up the tent,
we had figured because of the irritation,

just stay off your feet
and fall asleep with your foot elevated.

I hadn't clued anybody in
that I was worried quite yet,

I figured that if I let my dad know
I was worried,

he would go into full panic mode.

Well, I think that what she was doing

was just putting up
the tough girl front, "I've got this."

She's getting concerned, you could tell,
but she was not breaking down.

I'll be fine.

At this point, I thought that I was going
to wake up the next morning

and hike the rest of the canyon.

That night was restless, my leg
was swelling, I was in a lot of pain.

That's when-- kind of fear might have
started to creep in just a little bit.

I'm sleeping next to her, but all night
I'm awake listening for every move.

Obviously, she wasn't sleeping very well,
so now, doubt's coming on,

"Am I making the right decision?
Should I allow this to go on any further?"

ALYSON: I wake up,
and I get out of my tent.

At this point, now, I cannot walk.

The swelling had gone all the way up
to my knee, just excruciating pain.

It was definitely not a water beetle.

When Alyson wakes up in the morning,
and sees that her foot

is severely swollen
12 hours after the bite,

the conclusion can only be drawn
that this was a rattlesnake bite.

Nothing else would cause
those sorts of symptoms,

and there is only one type of rattlesnake
that recurs in this area,

the Grand Canyon rattlesnake,
crotalus abyssus ,

so named after the abyss
of the Grand Canyon that it lives in.

NARRATOR: The Grand Canyon Rattlesnake,

a highly venomous pit
viper found nowhere else in the world.

It can grow up to four feet long.

The perfectly camouflaged coloration
and calm demeanor often allows it

to escape detection,
and unfortunately for Alyson,

Thunder River is the ideal hangout
for such a highly evolved creature.

DR TAYLOR: So within the Grand Canyon,
Thunder River is an example of an oasis,

it's a place that attracts people
who are hikers in the area,

it also attracts wildlife.

Rattlesnakes are going to be feeding
upon the rodents that thrive in areas

where there's water, and indeed,
also just drinking from the water

and finally, sitting down
next to the water,

they're going to find
a much cooler micro-habitat

that they might way up
in the hot rocks in the desert.

[screams]

But Alyson, not knowing that
she had been envenomated by a rattlesnake,

I think this really speaks to
that she didn't see the snake,

and clearly, she wouldn't
have thought it was a rattlesnake bite

because most people think
that if it's a rattlesnake bite,

there's going to be two fang marks,
and indeed, there usually are,

but sometimes, only one fang
can actually penetrate the flesh.

This can happen for a number of reasons,
the angle of the snake's bite,

the size of the snake,
and especially the fact

that the fangs had to go
through these water shoes,

and even if it was in the back of her mind

that it could be a rattlesnake,
there's probably this strong denial

by her subconscious that it could be
because a rattlesnake bite means

your trip is over, and let's hope
for the best for your medical care

and even your survival.

NARRATOR: At this point, Alyson and her
father are still unaware of what bit her,

they just know her injury
is getting worse by the hour.

And I looked at it, and I said,
"No, we're not waiting any longer."

"Call the militia", is the words I used,

because that means we need help,
and they'd go,

"Well, you know, maybe we ought to wait
to see if the swelling goes down."

No, we are not waiting any longer,
this is it, call in the help.

I'm just like, "Yep, I'm going, I've got
to go. Let's make the phone call."

NARRATOR: Within the mangroves
of Cancun's Nichupte Lagoon,

a crocodile crushes Jonathan
Schoeneman's head in its jaws.

His friend Travis is spearfishing
hundreds of yards away,

oblivious to the life and death struggle.

I'm fighting, fighting, fighting.
I'm starting to get physically exhausted,

and then I remember, crocs,
they have a flap in their mouth, so...

They always close that flap when they eat,
you know if you push it down

they swallow water,
and it'll gag, and let you go.

I reached in between
my face and the mouth,

slide it in there and punching it,

and I'm hitting it as hard
as I possibly could, actually.

My hand was completely bruised
from sticking inside his mouth.

[screams and groans]

DR TELLEZ: He starts punching
at the palatal valve

and the palatal valve is similar
in a sense to the lips of a human.

It prevents water from
going in and it's another sensitive area.

Many times, the Crocodylidae,
the Alligator or the Crocodile,

will let go if you pulled
down the palatal valve,

water would rush in,
and the alligator would let go.

SCHOENEMAN: As I'm reaching
down his throat, punching it,

and the vice is getting
tighter around my jaw,

I'm trying to push the flap down,
and that didn't work.

This whole time, he's kind of pushing me
back to the mangroves,

and a second later,
out of the corner of my eye,

I noticed a branch from the mangrove.

I managed to break the branch
and started hitting the croc on the head.

I was completely on adrenaline,
I had the biggest adrenaline high ever,

I mean to snap that branch,
and it was a big branch, and my head--

Think about it, I'm in a vice,
I'm just hitting myself as hard as I could

just over and over and over.

[screams and groans]

And finally, it let me go.

So when Jonathan had the branch
and started knocking at the crocodile,

the crocodile might have finally
just gave up,

just simply because it might not have
had the greatest grip on Jonathan,

given that Jonathan's head was
in the front part of the snout.

SCHOENEMAN: And that relief...
[inhales deeply]

[panicked grunts]

and then I just looked down,
I could see all the blood, everything.

My teeth dangling.

Everything is mangled, and then he went
back into where it came from.

I went the other way, and I was swimming
back on my back, yelling.

Making gargly noises because my jaw
was completely split in half

and dangling,
so I'm just making this weird noise.

[gargling]

My head is partially submerged,
my ears are below the water level,

but I started to hear
this kind of muffled scream.

[screams]
Just over and over again, screaming,

and I see him coming out of the mangroves,
just covered in blood,

and his jaw hanging down to his chest,
and it looked as if a wolverine had just,

went like that to his skull.

SCHOENEMAN: You know, I could
see his face, like, that shock,

like, "What the hell's happening?"

And then he charged right to me
to come get me. No hesitation.

SIMMONS: I turned him around to his back,
put him on my chest,

and like start kicking back to the boat
as hard and fast as possible

because I didn't know if that croc
was coming for us to finish the job.

[groans]

NARRATOR: Travis pulls his friend Jonathan
into their boat,

the damage from the crocodile attack
is extensive.

SIMMONS: I start checking him,
making sure that his main carotid artery

had not been severed,
and I know I have to stop the bleeding,

I know we've got to get out of here,
and I know I have to find help.

SCHOENEMAN: He took his
shirt off and wrapped it around my face,

and he pulled the anchor, and I was like--

This is literally his first time
in the lagoon, so I was guiding, you know,

"Hey, just go here," like showing
where the marina would go,

and I'm pulling my face, and the shirt
just dripping blood everywhere.

SIMMONS: And the boat's just a mess,
and it just looked like a m*rder scene,

[engine turning]

[engine revving]

and I kind of crash land
the boat right into the dock.

I just start yelling like,
"Ayúdame , ayúdame , help me, help, help,"

and I'm telling the people,
"Ambulancia , call an ambulance."

and he's, at this point, like he
just looks like he's fading in and out

of consciousness a little bit.

I was just sitting there, you know,
basically cradling him, holding him,

not knowing if, like,
he's breathing his last breath

because of the amount of blood loss.

NARRATOR: After nearly an hour, the
ambulance team arrives to help Jonathan.

SCHOENEMAN: When the paramedics
got there, they pulled me up to try

and lay me onto the bed
and I'm like, "I'm suffocating,"

because I couldn't breathe
because my tongue

and everything was hanging, I couldn't.

My airways were complete blocked off.

SIMMONS: The communication
barrier was definitely a problem.

SCHOENEMAN: And Travis, at the time,

he didn't speak Spanish, and I had
my jaw ripped off, I'm mumbling.

SIMMONS: It's rush hour traffic,
the middle of hotel zone,

everybody's getting off of work,
and it's just bumper to bumper.

The ambulance, it was crazy, he's rolling
up onto the curb, going around traffic,

the sirens blaring.

I highly doubt this EMT had ever seen
a case this severe,

with somebody having their face
basically ripped off by a crocodile.

SCHOENEMAN: I saw my face completely
destroyed in the mirrors of the ambulance,

that's when I panicked.

I started losing consciousness
at that moment.

NARRATOR:
At their campsite in the Grand Canyon,

Dennis Redmond makes the call.

Though he doesn't realize his daughter
was bit by a rattlesnake,

he knows Alyson
needs immediate evacuation.

Using a satellite beacon, they contact
the Canyon's emergency response center

which dispatches paramedics to the site.

ALYSON: So my dad was making sure
that he could feel a pulse in my foot,

and he had to dig his finger
into my foot in order to find it.

That's when I saw concern
in his face because he was like

"Well, it's there, but it's faint."

DR TAYLOR: There's absolutely no question
that a person has been envenomated

once we see severe swelling and pain.

Grand Canyon rattlesnakes
have a really strong venom,

it's full of different proteins
that are going to be disrupting

the blood clotting cascade
that's going on in her foot.

Potentially disrupting blood flow

to important tissues
like ligaments and tendons.

Meanwhile, there's also neurotoxins
that are known to be present.

There could be serious risks of her

losing her ability to be able
to breathe properly.

When you're so far away from help
and from anti-venom treatment,

which is the only way
to treat a snake bite,

this could be a serious, serious problem,

both for her actual foot
and also potentially for her life,

because of the neurotoxins.

NARRATOR: It's been almost 24
hours since Alyson's bite.

The paramedic team arrives,

but their helicopter can't
land this deep in the Canyon.

So they turn around and go back
a couple of miles to drop off the team,

the team then has to do multiple
crossings in the river

in order to get to us.

So once the paramedics got there,
Megan, the paramedic, had informed me

that she believed
it was a rattlesnake bite.

This is when the first moment

of actual fear and panic actually set in.

Just complete meltdown.

DR TAYLOR: Finally, Alyson realizes
this was probably a rattlesnake.

Snake bite specialists are going to tell
you that the most important thing to do

in the event of a rattlesnake envenomation

is to seek medical treatment
as quickly as possible.

So the faster you get to the doctor to get
the antivenom treatment, the better.

All this time goes by with Alyson,
she's increasing the chances that there

could be this long term damage.

ALYSON: So the paramedics
gave me an IV, and they start prepping

to fully extract me from the Canyon.

DENNIS: I'm trying to be calm right,
I'm trying to process all of this,

but when your child is down, you've got...

[exasperated sighs]

[crying] You have to have your facilities.

I mean, I can feel it coming back,
I mean... but you can't show it.

ALYSON:
He's terrified, and it's all in his face.

I didn't want to freak out.

If I was freaking out, he would just--
couldn't, wouldn't be able to handle it.

NARRATOR:
A few hours after a crocodile attack,

Jonathan and Travis make it through
rush hour traffic to the hospital.

SCHOENEMAN:
They didn't know if I was going to make it

because of all the trauma I had
to my head, all the blood loss I had.

My jaw was split in half.

It come from here, all the way over here,
and this was completely ripped off.

Plus the bacteria from the crocodile,

and my brain was
just swelling tremendously.

When I woke up, they didn't know if I was
going to be able to speak or anything,

or if I was going to have brain damage,
they had no idea.



They did such a fabulous job putting
me together, my jaw was wired shut.

SIMMONS: I couldn't believe he looked
as good as he did in that moment,

so I was in shock seeing him.

I thought he was going to be deformed
for the rest of his life,

like severely deformed,
so I was very surprised.

They put Humpty Dumpty
back together again. [chuckles]

NARRATOR: Back in the Grand Canyon,
the clock is ticking,

and with no place
for the helicopter to land,

they put Alyson in a screamer suit,
in order to airlift her

out of the Canyon to higher ground.

ALYSON: So the helicopter came over,
I was hooked in, Adam was hooked in.

We get lifted off, and they have us
dangling 150, 200 feet

off the ground of the Grand Canyon.

DENNIS: Next time I saw her,

[crying] she was flying straight in--


down the Grand Canyon.

I'm thinking,
"Oh, jeez, what's happening here?"

You know, I'm looking up, and I'm just--
she's just slowly coming down the canyon.

ALYSON: In that moment, I was thinking
to myself, this is a very bad situation,

but this is pretty freaking cool.

It's called a screamer suit because
most people are very frightened by heights

and will scream in it,
and the whole time I was, like, "Whee."

NARRATOR:
With Alyson on her way to the hospital,

the rest of the group hikes
on to their next campsite.

Dennis stays behind,
he will hike out of the Canyon

and back to his daughter at sunrise.

DENNIS: There I am,
five o'clock or so in the afternoon,

three quarters of the way down
the Grand Canyon,

and my 30 year old daughter,
she's just been bitten by a rattlesnake.

[crying] When they're gone,
there's just me,

because everybody left,
but that's when it just--

that's when I broke down,
I couldn't handle it,

and then that's when I just said,
"Okay, I've got to let this go."

That's when it all comes together,
everything comes together,

and I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh,
every minute counts now,

and it's been 24 hours,

what in the world decision
was I making at this time?"

Why didn't I do this sooner?
This could have detrimental effects.

ALYSON: When I was in the helicopter,
the pain was...

it's like whenever your foot falls asleep,

but instead of the pins and needles,
it's more like chopsticks

and acid, just searing,
just like coming in from all sides.

DR TAYLOR: 20 hours in, the venom
has probably caused some severe damage

within her foot depending on
how much was initially injected.

The swelling is also potentially leading
to compartment syndrome.

Compartment syndrome is a situation
in which the swelling in certain parts

of the foot or the affected limb
can compress blood vessels

and nerves in other parts of the foot,
thereby leading to tissue death,

and furthermore, the venom has
probably moved through

her lymphatic system throughout the rest
of her body, where neurotoxins,

if present, could be impacting her ability
to breathe and other factors.

ALYSON: I arrive in Flagstaff,
I get checked into ICU.

There are people everywhere,
people drawing all over me, poking me,

prodding me, and I'm feeling safe.
They're going to give me this anti-venom,

and I'm going to get better.

So they administer it
first with the microchip.

So gradually, over the next ten minutes,
I'm feeling weird,

kind of fuzzy and kind of heavy.
I was just thinking that,

"Oh, this is what-- this is what
anti-venom feels like, it'll be fine.

After the ten minutes, they crank it up
because they feel confident that I wasn't,

that I was safe, and within seconds,
I start to go into an anaphylactic shock.

My throat is starting to close up,

my eyes, I can feel them,
heavy and swelling.

I can start to see the skin
around my eyes just swelling shut,

and at that point,
I was like, "Okay, that's it."

DR TAYLOR: Poor Alyson, the very thing
that is designed to save her causes

an allergic reaction within her body,
which is relatively uncommon,

it happens in maybe up to three percent
maximum percent of patients,

and she goes into anaphylactic shock.

Anaphylactic shock is when
the body responds with an over-reactive

immune system to an allergen in this case,

some of the snake venom proteins,
and goes into shock,

meaning that the blood vessels dilate,
her blood pressure drops,

her throat swells up, and she has trouble,
serious trouble, breathing.

So in fact, in her case,
a lot of the things that in some people

are caused by the venom
were caused by the anti-venom,

and this may have been
because she was allergic

to some of the proteins
that are in the anti-venom.

NARRATOR: Anti-venom is made
by injecting small amounts

of venom into domestic animals,
like horses or sheep.

The resulting antibodies are
then collected and purified.

Alyson is allergic to horses,
so it's possible that trace horse proteins

in the anti-venom caused her reaction.

Back in the Canyon,
Dennis is getting updates from his wife.

DENNIS: When I got the word
that she had "an allergic reaction",

I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh."

You know, that is one of those moments,
again, where you just--

you don't realize
how much you love your children

until you think they're in a position that
they're not going to make it out alive,

so it's one of those things, it's just,
you think, "How could it be any worse?"

NARRATOR: Doctors are able
to stop the anaphylaxis,

but without an effective treatment,

the venom continues to spread
throughout Alyson's body.

They immediately
call Phoenix Banner Hospital to see

if they had the other brand of anti-venom.

Luckily, they do, and back on
another helicopter to Phoenix,

and they started all over again.

NARRATOR: The next morning at first light,

Dennis begins a solo trek
out of the Canyon,

he never hiked so fast in his life.

DENNIS: When I left at 5:30 that morning,
my intent was to get to the hospital,

that was where I was going,
and I wasn't stopping,

and the whole time,
I'm getting some of these texts

and things about what's going on.
You know, they've got her settled down,

they got her shipped to Phoenix
by helicopter. So I'm getting the updates.

NARRATOR: This time, doctors in Phoenix
administer Alyson another anti-venom.

ALYSON: They are made differently,
different extractions,

different antibodies, and one of them
is made with horse antibodies,

and one of them is made out
of sheep or goat antibodies.

NARRATOR:
Which she has no negative reaction to.

Alyson, her mother and the medical staff
breathe a huge sigh of relief.

DENNIS: I just sh**t up the mountain,
I'm up at the top by noon the next day.

By then, Alyson's getting
out of the hospital.

NARRATOR: Thankfully, the second round
of anti-venom treatment is so successful,

Alyson is released from
the hospital that afternoon.

DENNIS: So I jumped in my truck,
threw everything in there,

and then I just headed home.
By the time I got there, she's there,

at home, sitting on
the couch with her foot up.

"Oh, hi, Dad."

"Hi, dad?"
[laughs]

[crying] Is that what you've got to say?
It was quite the journey.

NARRATOR: Back in Houston,
Jonathan Schoeneman's recovery

is nothing short of astounding.

SCHOENEMAN: When I was ripped apart,
all my bones were together,

that's why they were able
to piece me back,

basically perfectly,
and this is next to the carotid artery.

The doctors were just amazed at--
they could see it.

If it would have been a millimeter over,
it would have just cut the vein,

I would have died out like that.

DR TELLEZ:
Yes, Jonathan was in crocodile habitat,

but something else we have to consider
is in these very touristy areas,

such as Cancun, there has been
an increase of negative interactions

between humans and crocodiles,
and some of those negative interactions,

it's because people
are feeding crocodiles.

These animals become habituated,
and they lose their fear of humans.

With that loss of fear,
they're more likely to be bold

and aggressive,
and that's when an attack can happen.

A general rule,
no matter where you go in the world,

do not feed the wildlife because
you might enjoy having a nice selfie

that you can put on social media,
not realizing you get to leave

and go back to your nice, safe home,
and you have increased

the danger of a particular community.

SCHOENEMAN: I need water in my life,
it doesn't matter where it's at,

I just want to be close to it.

I heard people talking,
"I can't believe a crocodile,

how could he be in the water,"
but really, it's just made me stronger.

My family, I promised them
I'll never go spearfishing in the lagoon,

and I've kept that promise.

I've been in there, swimming,
but not spearfishing.

So I've kept it pretty good.

NARRATOR: After the rattlesnake bite,
Alyson faced months

of physical rehabilitation
just to walk again

but one question still remains, how did
a group of such experienced hikers

misdiagnose Alyson's rattlesnake bite?

DR TAYLOR: People are very reluctant
to think that they could have been bitten

by a rattlesnake
unless they saw the snake.

In reality, it can actually
be really different.

She's walking through brush,
it's loud, raging river,

she doesn't hear even the snake moving,

she doesn't hear anything, and it happens
so rapidly that it makes sense

that Alyson would never have even seen it.

She would just say, "Hey, what was that,"
and then ten steps later,

"Hm, that hurts a little bit," and
then by the time she's really thinking,

"Oh, sh**t,
that could have been a rattlesnake,"

that snake is miles behind her.

NARRATOR: According to Dr. Taylor,

Alyson likely wasn't the only one
surprised by this encounter.

DR TAYLOR:
So imagine that you're a rattlesnake,

hanging out under the brush,

you can't really see very well
because you're covered in this brush,

you have no ears.

What you do have is a strong
sense of smell and taste,

and then you have this sense of vibration.

I think it's definitely possible
that because of this raging water,

that the snake didn't have the opportunity

to sense Alyson's footsteps
as she approached.

The rattlesnake is sitting there quietly,
Alyson comes up,

neither of them sense the other one,
and when she stepped on or near it,

it bit to defend itself.

NARRATOR: Six months later,
Alyson is nearly fully recovered,

with no intentions of
letting this incident slow her down.

ALYSON: I'm back climbing, back
practicing yoga, and I will be going back

into the Grand Canyon in two weeks
from when this is being filmed.

I'm just psyched to give
the Canyon another go.

NARRATOR: Less than a year after the bite,
Alyson returns to the Grand Canyon,

completing one of its
most difficult hikes,

the Nankoweap Trail, with dad by her side,

but she will never forget
how fortunate she is to be alive.

ALYSON: Just my luck, right.

Me being allergic to anti-venom,
and me getting

bit by a rattlesnake at the Grand Canyon.

Both, I would have had better chances
of winning the lottery.

DENNIS: It was supposed to be
the father-daughter adventure, you know,

with friends, but sometimes,
life makes a little twist.

So we have a whole new
adventure to talk about

and to share with people and say,
"Learn something from this, if you will."

ALYSON: I think this entire experience
has definitely strengthened

the bond between my father and I.

He checks in more,
he usually is a super fast hiker,

he's usually leading the pack,
like first one up at the summit,

and now he hangs back
a little bit when we're hiking together,

a little bit more than he used to.
I like that.