Wife of bee attack victim speaks out
BUCKEYE VALLEY, Ariz. (KSAZ) - An elderly man is recovering after being brought back to life after his heart stopped. He was attacked by a large swarm of bees at his Buckeye Valley home Tuesday, and it turns out he's allergic to bee stings.
Anna Mora is his wife and says she thought she lost her husband, but moments later she's thanking paramedics for reviving him. Seventy-two-year-old Jerry Mora isn't out of the woods yet; he remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Anna says she was in her garage when she heard her husband scream for help.
"He called for me, he was moving around, I knew he was all right, but when he quit moving and just laid there that's when I knew," said Anna Mora.
Her husband was covered with bees and was allergic to their sting.
"After I tried to get him up off the ground he fell, I couldn't do it, my next thought was I gotta get a sheet to cover him, and I got a sheet, he said just get me out of here," said Anna.
Emergency crews arrived about 14 minutes after they got the call, during that time Jerry's heart had stopped beating, and he lost consciousness. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital and during the ambulance ride they performed aggressive CPR and were able to get his heart beating again.
"I saw the nurses, they had a bunch of bees that they took out of him, it must've been over 100 or more, and he was just covered," said Anna.
She was stung several times in the face, but she isn't allergic to bee stings. She says the pain of nearly losing her husband is far worse than being stung. She remains grateful for the efforts of firefighters and paramedics and believes her husband still has his life left to live.
"That's what's really keeping me going," said Anna.
She says they've known for a couple of years that there was a large hive in their garage, but she says the bees have never been aggressive until Tuesday.