A man was hospitalised after he was brutally stung 'over 20,000 times' by bees.
Austin Bellamy was placed in a medically induced coma at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and woke up yesterday, 31 August.
The 20-year-old ingested around 30 bees as he was trimming lemon tree branches with his grandma Phyllis Edwards, his uncle Dustin Edwards said.
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Shawna Carter, Bellamy’s mother, was overwhelmed when she received a phone call from the emergency services.
Waning, contains images some may find upsetting:
She told Fox 19: "It was just too much for me to take. It looked like he had a black blanket on his head down to his neck, down to his arms."
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Grandmother Phyllis recalled the incident, saying: "When he started cutting them, that’s when the bees came out, and he tried to anchor himself down, and he couldn’t.
"He was hollering, ‘Help! Help me! Help!’ And nobody would help him.
"I was going to try and climb the ladder to get to Austin. I seen how high he was. But I couldn’t get to him because I was surrounded in bees."
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A medical helicopter was quick to arrive at the scene to transport Bellamy to hospital.
Carter said she was thankful for a Ripley Fire Department firefighter named Craig who saved his life.
“When I think of Craig, Craig is a lifesaver,” she said. “He’s Austin’s angel. He saved Austin’s life.”
A GoFundMe has been set up by Austin's mother, who said: "Austin just turned 20 in August 7 and on August 27 he was in a tragic tree accident where he was doing tree work for a friend and cut a lemon, cut right into a nest of African killer bees.
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"[He] was stung over 20,000 times and is in the hospital currently on a ventilator and fighting for his life and we are asking for any donations just anything will help thank you and God bless."
Doctors say the 20-year-old is expected to make a full recovery.
According to Pest World: "The Africanised bee is a hybrid species of the Western honey bee. These so-called 'killer' bees were established when bees from southern Africa and local Brazilian honey bees mated. The Africanised bee was first identified in Brazil in the 1950s, but it quickly spread through Central and South America after a handful of swarms escaped quarantine. The first Africanized bees in the United States were discovered in 1985 at an oil field in California."
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Anish Vij