Quote: WILKES COUNTY, N.C. --
An 81-year-old Wilkes County man didn't see a doctor after receiving a bite from a copperhead snake, but rather decided to remove the venom on his own.
Loyd Church, who lives along Vannoy Road, said he was in his garden last week when the snake snapped at him and bit him on his hand between his thumb and index finger.
"I was picking cucumbers, and he was hiding up under them vines," the soft-spoken Church said Friday.
Church, who avoids going to the doctor whenever possible, said he remembered seeing his father treat snake bites as a boy and decided to perform the same procedure.
"I gripped my hand and stuck it down in," Church said, describing how he used a knife to cut a slit between the two fang marks before sucking the venom out. He then killed the snake by stomping on it with his boot.
Church, whose wife died nine years ago, maintains a large garden on his property. After taking some beans to a neighbor shortly after the bite, the neighbor became concerned and contacted another neighbor who serves as a fire department first-responder.
That man examined Church and bandaged the wound.
Church said other than feeling a little dizzy, he's seen no other side effects. | 
