Oakley Yoder was airlifted to the hospital after the bite, where she received treatment. But the family's woes were just beginning.
One Illinois family is showing Inside Edition the mountain of medical bills they've received after their daughter was bitten by a venomous snake.
The bills, which total a whopping $143,000, were for a 24-hour hospital stay after 10-year-old Oakley Yoder was walking in the woods in Jackson Falls, Illinois, earlier this year.
"I was walking and I stopped because I felt something attack my foot and I didn't know what it could be, but it was pain that I’ve never felt before,” she said.
It turned out to be a snake. Oakley was airlifted to the hospital, where doctors administered antivenom. In less than a day, Oakley was sent home.
Then, the bills started pouring in, with $72,000 for antivenom and $55,000 for the helicopter, among some of the major charges.
"I couldn't wrap my mind around it, it's close to what I make in a year,” the girl's distraught father, Josh, told Inside Edition.
Like any parents, Shelli and Josh would pay any price for the life of their precious daughter, but they can't understand why the bills were so high.
In the end, insurance covered most of it, but the family said it took months of fighting to get everything taken care of.
Their message to others? Don’t give up the fight.
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