1 day Ago
A horrified mum feared her son would die when he was engulfed in a swarm of bees - leaving her sucking 40 stings out of him. Jo Evans was at her local rugby club with friends and family when her four-year-old Brody-Jac was mobbed by a colony of honey bees. The 39-year-old was sitting at the side of the pitch with a group of friends 'a stone's throw away' from where her two children and other kids were playing on a bank in September.
Unbeknownst to her, the children had accidentally disturbed a honey bee hive while throwing stones into a stream - aggravating the winged insects. Jo feared her son could go into anaphylactic shock at any moment (Image: Kennedy News and Media) The mum-of-two felt horrified when she heard her eight-year-old son Blake screaming and turned to find a swarm of 50 bees surrounding her youngest boy Brody-Jac. The civil servant, who lives near Swansea, said the ordeal made her immediately think of the 1991 film My Girl in which the protagonist Thomas - played by Macalauy Culkin - suffers a fatal allergic reaction to a honey bee sting.
Jo's husband - 36-year-old social worker Jason Evans - sprinted over to rescue little Brody-Jac, suffering several bee stings himself. The terrified mum then began sucking out the bee stings from her tot's body after he was stung dozens of times across his arms, back and head. Fearing their son could go into anaphylactic shock at any moment, the parents rushed Brody-Jac to hospital where luckily he made a full recovery.
Jo said: "The kids were throwing stones at a stream and obviously unknowingly aggravated this hive. They didn't know it was there. "The older children were obviously more aware of the situation and ran over to alert us.
We were only sitting a stone's throw away. "I could hear my oldest screaming 'I've been stung in the neck!' When I turned my head, I could see my youngest standing in the middle with all the bees surrounding him. There were around 50.
"It made me immediately think of My Girl. One of the characters is allergic to bees and instantly died. It was like I was reliving that movie.
I thought this was it. "We didn't know if Brody-Jac was allergic to them or not at that point. So I was really thinking the worst.
"My husband ran over and got my youngest out of there straight away and he was getting covered in bees." Jo then began using her mouth to suck the dozens of bee stings out of her little one's body before rushing him to hospital. Jo said: "I'd already got the one sting out of my oldest and started sucking out the stings in Brody.
I don't even know if mother's instinct started kicking in or I went into survival mode. "They were all over his hands, arms, belly, back and head. Ones in his head I could just pick out with my nails.
I just wanted to take the pain away from him. There was another child that had 11 stings. "His face had swollen up and he had hives on his skin.
Because he was crying, I knew he could breathe. "We took him to hospital and they just told us to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get infected. They told me 'good thinking' about me sucking the stings out.
"The pain must've been horrific for him. He had over 40 stings and he had a coat on. The bees obviously went through his clothes.
"I don't want anyone else to go through what we did that day. If your child is stung and there's signs of an anaphylactic shock, you have to ring 999.".
