According to his family, an Ohio man was stung roughly 20,000 times by bees while cutting tree branches last week.
Austin Bellamy, 20, was looking to help trim some tree branches on a lemon tree last Friday when he actually cut into a nest full of Africanized killer bees, according to his mom Shawna Carter, who set up a GoFundMe to help with Bellamy’s hospital costs.
Carter told WCPO, “He was just covered in bees.” “Screaming and yelling, crying for help.”
Carter informed the newspaper that her son was placed in a medically-induced coma at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center over the weekend.
She told FOX19 that he awoke from his coma on Wednesday.
His grandmother, Phyllis Edwards, was waiting below the tree when the bees struck, but she said she couldn’t assist because she was being attacked as well.
“When he started cutting them, that’s when the bees came out, and he tried to anchor himself down, and he couldn’t,” Phyllis told FOX19. “He was hollering, ‘Help! Help me! Help!’ And nobody would help him.”
The local fire department eventually saved Bellamy. Not only was Bellamy stung thousands of times, but according to the GoFundMe, he also ingested about 30 of the bees.
Carter told WCPO that the bees were killer bees, according to the local fire department. The Southwest Ohio Beekeepers Association told the outlet that a bee sample would be required to determine the type of bee.
As of Thursday morning, the GoFundMe had surpassed its $10,000 goal.
Doctors believe Bellamy will make a full recovery.
