Mosman man survives deadly bite from blue-ringed octopus at Balmoral Beach.

By ANNA USHER

A Mosman man has shared his miraculous tale of survival after he was bitten by a blue-ringed octopus, one of the most-deadly creatures in the world.

Jaun Paul (JP) Kalman, 43, was swimming at Balmoral around midday on Wednesday, 5 February, when he stood on an oyster shell while waist-deep in the water.

He was about 20 metres north of Balmoral Baths, not far from the storm water drain.

“I picked up the shell with my toes, transferred it to my left hand, and when I looked down, there was a Blue Ringed Octopus attached to my thumb,” JP told Mosman Collective.

“The head of the octopus was the size of a small marble, and its tentacles were wrapped around my knuckle.

“The creature was magnificent and coloured bright yellow, with flashing blue rings.”

JP, a father of two young children, said his symptoms didn’t “kick in” for about twenty minutes when his thumb became numb.

“I called my ex-wife and told her that I’d been bitten, and luckily she was working from home in Mosman that day,” he said, “by the time she picked me up, I had numbed lips, I was in a state of confusion, and I was having trouble speaking.”

With paralysis taking over his body, JP was rushed into Intensive Care at Royal North Shore Hospital, where he was placed into an induced coma.

“I honestly thought I was going to die,” he said, “I remember my jaw clenched tight, I couldn’t speak, I could hear the doctor saying, ‘open your eyes,’ but I couldn’t move.”

“My entire body was cramping, and it felt like there was a massive weight pushing down on me, and then my heart rate slowed; I could feel it but couldn’t react because of the paralysis.”

He was intubated and kept in an induced coma for twenty hours; JP said when he woke up, there were two further paralysis “mini attacks” while in the hospital.

“Thankfully, they didn’t last very long, and by Friday afternoon I was home.”

However, that isn’t the end of the story.

On Saturday, 8 February, while shopping at Bridgepoint, JP said he suddenly “lost all energy” inside the Aldi supermarket.

“I had to stop in the aisle, and I knew something wasn’t right,” he said.

“The next thing I was on the ground, completely paralysed.”

Fortunately, staff and a medical expert were on hand to call an ambulance, and transport JP back to the hospital.

“I was re-admitted to Royal North Shore, and about four hours later, the paraesthesia stopped,” he said.

“By Tuesday afternoon, I was allowed to go home.”

JP has shared his story with us to alert others to the dangers of coming across a Blue Ringed Octopus on local beaches.

“I am the luckiest man alive,” he told Mosman Collective, “if it were one of my kids who had been bitten, they would not be here today.”

“I have returned to the water and will continue to swim in the same spot at Balmoral.

“I wish to thank my ex-wife, who saved my life by getting me to the hospital so quickly, and to the medical staff who kept me breathing when I thought I was going to die.

“I feel like nothing can beat me now.”

Blue- Ringed Octopus Bites

• The blue-ringed octopus bite is highly venomous to humans, and emergency services should be called immediately if it occurs
• Blue-ringed octopuses are not aggressive animals, and most cases of bites are from a person picking up and handling the creature or stepping on it
• It injects its toxin by biting – the venom is held in salivary glands, and the mouth of the octopus is on the underneath side in the middle of the body
• Most bites cause minimal pain for the first 5-10 minutes, then begin to throb and may get numb
• The bite could cause excessive bleeding, nausea, vomiting, changes in vision and difficulty swallowing
• After 10 minutes, the victim may have difficulty breathing, become paralysed, and require artificial ventilation until they can be transported to a hospital
• The duration of life-threatening symptoms is usually 4 to 10 hours – after that time, surviving patients typically show rapid signs of improvement
• There is no anti-venom available for blue-ringed octopus bites
• In extreme cases, blue-ringed octopus bites can cause death from respiratory failure or cardiac arrest •Despite its high toxicity, there have been just three recorded deaths in the last century – two in Australia and one in Singapore

Source: emedicinehealth