Woman suffers 3 copperhead snake bites at Virginia steak house

A Virginia woman says her life completely changed in a moment when a copperhead snake bit her foot three times as she walked into a LongHorn Steakhouse earlier this month.

Rachel Myrick told CBS-affiliate WTVR that as she entered the restaurant with her boyfriend and 13-year-old son, she felt a sharp pain in her foot.

“Initially it felt like I was stung by a bee or a hornet,” she said. “I reached down and grabbed my foot because of the amount of pain and under my fingers I felt it [the snake] wiggle.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Initially it felt like I was stung by a bee or a hornet," she said. "I reached down and grabbed my foot because of the amount of pain and under my fingers I felt it [the snake] wiggle."

The eight-inch-long snake had bitten her twice on her toes and once on the side of her left foot.

Her boyfriend, Michael Clem, who is familiar with reptiles after raising them for 15 years, recognized that the culprit was the venomous copperhead snake.

“There was no question what it was,” he told local newspaper The Free Lance-Star.

Paramedics were called after Clem and Myrick’s son stomped on the snake.

Myrick said doctors monitored the spread of the snake venom in her leg, administering anti-venom and painkillers.

“[My leg] was black like my toes, all the way past my knee,” she said, showing off her left foot which was still black and blue weeks after the incident.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "[My leg] was black like my toes, all the way past my knee," she said, showing off her left foot which was still black and blue weeks after the incident.

She was released from the hospital on Sunday and is expected to recover over a period of at least three months. She still requires crutches to get around due to the lingering pain.

The hardest part, she said, is not being able to be the active mom she once was.

“They say that your life can change in a moment and they’re absolutely correct,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They say that your life can change in a moment and they're absolutely correct," she said.

LongHorn Steakhouse said in a statement to WTVR that they are working to remove the risk of this happening again.

“Our primary concern is for the well-being of Ms. Myrick and we want to provide any assistance we can. This was a highly unusual incident and we are working with our facilities team to see how this may have occurred and we are taking steps to prevent it from happening again.”

“I got snake. They got steak,” quipped Myrick.

According to LiveScience, copperhead snake venom is rarely fatal to humans and the various varieties of copperheads are found widely across the U.S.

North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension Service reports that copperheads bite more people in most years than any other American species.