Unwrapping Christmas presents and watching the ball drop on New Year’s Eve hooked up to a network of IV tubing in a hospital bed was not exactly how David Humphlett planned the holiday season to look. 

On Dec. 18, a helicopter flew the 25-year-old Gainesville social media influencer to UF Health Shands Hospital after a four-foot eastern diamondback rattlesnake sank its fangs into his right shin. Sixteen days and 88 vials of antivenom later—tied for the record of most vials ever used—doctors cleared Humphlett to go home on Jan. 2. 

Even though Humphlett’s future of healing is all one “big question mark,” he and his wife Emma Rynear—who was working as a speech-language pathologist at Shands when she got the “devastating” call about her husband’s accident—said their confidence to face it comes from knowing that God is in control. 

“Not sure what medical struggles 2025 will hold but we know Who holds this year in the palm of His hands,” Rynear posted on Instagram. “Yes, we are tired and yes, we are frustrated. But God is not surprised by our situation and He won’t stop ruling and reigning! Thank you Jesus.” 

Last month when the snake bite happened, Humphlett was “herping” on Shired Island in Dixie County with a group of friends. Herping is a term used to describe the act of looking for and observing reptiles and amphibians in the wild.  

With 1.5 million followers on Instagram and 2.3 million on TikTok, Humphlett uses social media and his passion for wildlife and snakes as a platform to educate people on the creatures and lessen fear surrounding them. 

On the island, Humphlett was peeling back a piece of bark when the rattlesnake spotted him before he spotted it. Humphlett said the pit viper was likely hunting for its next meal when it lurched out and bit him without rattling to warn him. He said the bite felt like an alligator’s mouth or a steel bear trap had closed around his leg. 

“Welp, I’m cooked,” Humphlett said in a video he filmed immediately following the bite. “That right there, is a fantastic eastern diamondback rattlesnake that I just got bit in the leg by because I didn’t notice him when I was peeling bark. I’m about to lose my ability to walk so let’s get back to the car.” 

Humphlett said breathing got significantly harder over the course of his 17-minute helicopter flight to Shands from a Cross City fire station as his throat started closing. According to Dove Med, untreated rattlesnake bite victims have a 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 fatality rate. 

Along with causing his left leg to swell and bruise in blacks and purples, the injection of venom spiked Humphlett’s creatine kinase levels from the normal 55 to 170 units per liter (U/L) range to almost 10,000 U/L, causing major concern for maintaining proper organ and muscle function. 

With ongoing pain and swelling prolonging healing well into Humphlett’s second week in the hospital, doctors theorized that his muscles and tissues were soaking up active venom still trapped in his lower leg due to the swelling. 

According to Rynear’s Instagram, tissues from damaged muscles broke down into her husband’s bloodstream and caused fluid to fill his lungs. A spreading cellulitis infection increased pain and swelling, and an allergic reaction to plasma and a blood clotting agent caused a breakout of hives after a miscommunication between night and daytime hospital staff.  

Thirteen days of Humphlett’s stay at Shands were spent in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU). 

“David has a device in which he can press a button for pain med administration, but it has a limit [of course],” Rynear posted. “He pressed it 410 times yesterday but he only received 34 doses.” 

Both being professing Christians, Rynear credited the couple’s ability to endure the ups and downs of Humphlett’s condition to prayer, visits from their families, “the bride of Christ” in church friends and support sent in from fans across the country. 

“I had a friend fly in just for one night all the way from New Hampshire, just to visit me in the hospital and build Legos with me in bed,” Humphlett said in an interview with Mainstreet. “That was just a really sweet experience and testimony of God’s faithfulness and love and my friends that I have.” 

The couple also relied on advice from Dr. Ben Abo, an EMS and emergency physician who used to educate UF medical students on envenomation cases. The toxinologist also served as a medical director and consultant for various television series, including Shark Week and National Geographic. 

Rynear said messaging Abo on Instagram for help with her husband’s situation was a shot in the dark. But Abo responded to her immediately and the Shands medical team incorporated his insight into Humphlett’s care via phone call and text. 

“I honestly don’t know where we’d be without his involvement,” Rynear posted. “He is a genius when it comes to managing snake envenomations. He is THE guy.” 

Although doctors eventually downgraded Humphlett to the immediate care unit before discharging him to go home in a wheelchair (while wearing a hat with a snake on it), the battle for healing both physically and spiritually isn’t over.  

The increased tingling and burning pains in Humphlett’s leg could indicate that nerves are waking back up and might benefit from physical therapy.  

But the infectious disease doctors also said the lengthy amount of time lapsed between the bite and when Humphlett received antivenom creates a greater risk that muscle in his leg will continue dying, causing more health problems and permanent damage down the road.  

Humphlett said that while he is able to bear weight on his leg now, an impinged artery leftover from the pressure of the bite is restricting blood flow and shoots a throbbing pain through his leg every time he stands up.  

He said the most frustrating physical obstacle is the stiffness from a case of drop foot — the neurological and muscular condition hindering ankle mobility and foot flexion could be permanent due to the complexity of the diamondback’s venom. Reoccurring leg-related nightmares also make sleep challenging. 

But Humphlett said that through every present pain and future unknown, he does not blame the snake and he has hope whether he regains all of his strength or not.  

“God can work through PT,” he said. “I’m just really going to pray that [mobility] comes back and I can regain function. Otherwise, it’s manageable from everybody I’ve talked to. But it’ll definitely limit my mobility from what I’m used to and that would really suck for how active I am.” 

A “25-year-old slave to Christ” according to his Instagram profile, Humphlett said he grew up in a Christian home and embraced the faith for himself in 2018. But Humphlett said that God turned the timing of the snake bite into a blessing during a spiritually dry season where he’s felt more apathetic towards God unlike when he first believed. 

Not only has walking through the snake bite brought Humphlett’s entire family closer together, but he said it’s been to him like the thorn in the apostle Paul’s flesh driving him closer to Christ. 

“I feel like God has already been quick to use this experience to just draw me into fellowship with Him and dependence upon him,” he said. “When you look there at your limp foot, you know, what are you going to do but pray and ask God for mercy and grace to sustain you? He’s good no matter what. Even if my foot doesn’t come back, God’s still good, He’s still faithful. I trust him through it all.” 

Humphlett said that while there might be a little PTSD to overcome at his next eastern diamondback rattlesnake encounter, he has no fear of getting right back in nature alongside all its creatures as soon as possible. 

“Spring is coming and the snakes are going to move in soon. I want to be there when it happens,” he said. “I love these animals, and nothing will scare me off of that.” 

Daily updates on Humphlett can be followed on Rynear’s Instagram and contributions towards his medical costs can be made to the couple’s GoFundMe campaign.