Virginia woman says she was bitten by copperhead snake inside LongHorn Steakhouse restaurant

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - A Virginia woman was supposed to be enjoying a dinner out on the town. Instead, it turned into a serious emergency as she was bit by a poisonous snake inside of a LongHorn Steakhouse in Fredericksburg.

Rachel Myrick said she and her family were walking just before the second set of doors to the dinner room when she thought a bee had stung her foot. She reached down and a 8-inch copperhead snake was hanging onto her foot. Pictures of her foot show the snake bit her under her pinky toe.

She said the bite was some of the worst pain she has ever felt.

"It felt initially like a bee sting, maybe something a little bit more than that, but nothing crazy,” Myrick described. “So we went to brush off my foot and keep walking, and then the next step I took was a whole different thing. Just an absolutely excruciating amount of pain. I yelled out. The family thought I had fallen. I reached over to grab my foot. I dropped my phone, dropped my wallet, clutched my foot and that is when I felt it moving underneath my fingers.

“The bite itself and then the first time that we tried putting weight on it were probably the two times that it was the worst. I have had two kids. Having kids was nothing in comparison. I had a spinal tap when I was about 15 to test for meningitis. I would say it felt pretty similar to the spinal tap itself.”

The Virginia woman spent five days at the hospital where she was administered with anti-venom. She will likely remain unable to work and have to continue to recover from the side effects for the next three months.

She said her focus is recovering, and has not decided if she will take legal action against the restaurant.

According to the Virginia Poison Center, copperhead snakes are one of three poisonous snakes found in the commonwealth, and the copperhead is the most common and can be found statewide.

LongHorn Steakhouse said in a statement, "As soon as we were made aware of what happened, we immediately contacted 911 and assisted our guest. Our primary concern is for the wellbeing of Ms. Myrick and we want to provide any assistance we can. This was a highly unusual incident, and we are working with our facilities team to see how this may have occurred and we are taking steps to prevent it from happening again."