Man survives malaria and coronavirus – then gets bitten by a cobra!
Jodhpur, India - They say all bad things come in threes, but Ian Jones had already survived dengue fever, malaria, and a coronavirus infection when he got bitten by a poisonous snake in India.
The Brit is a real magnet for misfortune. Equally though, he seems indestructible.
In the past, he was sick with malaria and dengue fever and survived both without any permanent side effects. He also recently recovered from a case of Covid-19.
Jones runs a charity-backed social enterprise importing fair trade handcrafted items from India to Britain. He was at his base in the city of Jodhpur when he faced the latest threat to his life: a bite from a king cobra. Jones was in a warehouse when his dog began to bark. As he reached out to soothe the dog, the cobra, startled by the sudden movement, attacked him.
Jones' son, Seb, and two other acquaintances created a GoFundMe page to raise money to cover the medical bills that have been piling up.
He also claimed that his father was dealing with a second coronavirus infection when he was bitten by the snake.
Jones has since been released from the hospital
Claire Robertson, one of the organizers of the funding drive, wrote: "Now facing mounting medical bills and being unable to leave the country, we are setting up this Go Fund Me page in the hope of urgently raising some money to help meet the tens of thousands of pounds needed for his care, before he can return home to his family on the Isle of Wight."
The campaign has already proved extremely successful. The target of $10,600 was reached within three days and has more than doubled to a whopping $23,000.
In an update, Robertson announced that Jones is no longer intubated but is currently blind and cannot move his legs, which the doctors think is temporary. He was supposed to move to a coronavirus ward but since they are overcrowded and staff is overworked, he will be cared for by a group of colleagues at his Jodhpur headquarters.
Meanwhile, the Indian Express reported that his doctor, Abhishek Tater, was unconcerned: "While he was with us, he was conscious and had snakebite symptoms, including blurred vision and difficulty walking, but these are generally transitory symptoms."
Cover photo: 123rf/PURIPAT Penpun