Colorado boy, 6, DIES after being bitten by a rattlesnake while out on a bike ride

A six-year-old boy who was bitten by a rattlesnake while cycling with his father and sister has died after being taken off a ventilator, despite being treated with antivenom in hospital.

Simon Currat, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was on a trail ride at Bluestem Prairie Open Space with his father, Nic, and three-year-old sister, Renee, on July 5.

When they stopped for a water break, Simon ran ahead to look at a mile marker. From the front his father heard him say ‘rattlesnake!’ call. and immediately ran to Simon, who had collapsed and was turning purple.

The father, holding his son in his arms, ran to the nearest neighborhood, where paramedics were called.

Simon went into cardiac arrest and was eventually airlifted to a nearby hospital. After several days of no brain response, the little boy was taken off the ventilator on July 10.

The same day Simon was bitten by the rattlesnake, his older sister, Anna, 8, who was left blind and non-verbal after birth complications, suffered a sustained seizure. She was treated in the same hospital where Simon spent his last days.

Derek Chambers, chief of the fire department’s security, who responded to the emergency, told the local CBS news station he was emotionally shaken by the tragedy.

“Being a father myself makes it really, really home,” Chambers said. As soon as the child was bitten, the father grabbed him and started running to the street… screaming for help.’

The incident took place shortly after 8 a.m. on July 5.

“During a water break, Simon ran ahead to look for a mile marker on the trail they were on. Shocked, he yelled back to his father, “Rattlesnake!” with fear in his eyes, he collapsed and turned purple,” said a description of the tragedy on a fundraiser website to help cover funeral costs.

Simon’s father, Nic, had left his phone behind, so he ran to the nearest neighborhood with Simon in his arms and his three-year-old daughter beside them.

Twenty minutes after going into cardiac arrest, he received poison control treatment at a local hospital before being transferred to the Children’s Hospital in Colorado Springs.

As his condition continued to deteriorate, Simon’s mother, Lindsey Currat, asked friends and family on social media to join in prayers for the little boy’s recovery.

As the family struggled with uncertainty, Simon was again transferred to a hospital in Aurora, where his older sister, Anna, would join him days later.

Anna, 8, had seizures at birth due to health complications.

The girl, who is non-verbal and blind, was taken to the same hospital as his brother’s, where he was treated until Simon’s death on July 10.

“Due to the complexity of her care, and at the request of the family, she remained in the hospital under the care of the hospital, traveling the last 2 days of Simon’s life. This was a great blessing to the family,” reads the description of the fundraiser.

Simon’s parents learned on July 7 that the swelling in his brain was serious and were told by doctors that they thought he might not live long.

On July 9, it was determined that there was no sign of life in Simon’s brain and his parents made the difficult decision to remove the life support.

He died on July 10.

The community has begun fundraiser to cover funeral expenses and help the currants cope with the tragedy.

As of Wednesday night, more than $36,631 has been raised from the $150,000 goal.

Although rare, rattlesnake bites are life-threatening in most cases. Every year in the US an average of 1,300 children are bitten by snakes, news week reported.

Fire chief Derek Chambers said Simon was the first child to die from a rattlesnake bite in more than a decade.

“Responding to children is the worst part of our job. When it has something to do with a child, it automatically drives us into a different behavior,” he told the Denver Channel.

Chambers advised those in a situation where someone had been bitten by a snake to keep calm and not put tourniquets on or try to suck out the venom.