A father-of-two is lucky to be alive after he was stung by a blue-ringed octopus.
Jaun-Paul ‘JP’ Kalman, 43, experienced four bouts of paralysis and ended up in an induced coma after the frightening encounter at Balmoral Beach in Mosman on Sydney’s lower north shore on February 5.
During a swim, he picked up and collected a shell for his daughter, not realising the deadly creature was inside until it latched onto his thumb.
Mr Kalman immediately recognised it as one of the world’s deadliest animals and quickly brushed it off his hand.
‘Its little blue spots were pulsating incredibly blue, which means it’s angry, and it’s p***ed off, and it’s biting me,’ he told Nine News.
Mr Kalman googled the symptoms to check if he had any, despite not noticing any cuts or scratches on his hand.
Symptoms usually kick in 10 minutes, which include excessive bleeding, numbness, nausea, vomiting, vision changes, cardiac arrest and difficulty swallowing.
His entire hand soon went numb as his ex-wife picked him up and rushed him to Royal North Shore Hospital.
By this stage, Mr Kalman feared that he would die before reaching the hospital.
‘I had no real ability to talk, and all my strength had been sapped out of me,’ he recalled.
He become completely paralysed within 30 minutes of being admitted to hospital.
‘I could hear everything, I could see everything, I could feel them touching me. I was just completely paralysed,’ he said.
As doctors desperately worked to save his life, Mr Kalman’s eyes began rolling into the back of his head.
Despite the medical staff begging him to keep his eyes open, he was unable to.
‘I was thinking, oh God, is this the end?’ he recalled.
‘I actually remember saying, I don’t want to die, I’ve got kids.’
Before Mr Kalman was placed into an induced coma, he couldn’t stop thinking about the real prospect that he night never see his children again.
Miraculously, he regained consciousness 20 hours later and discharged from hospital two days later.
But the the last of the suffering was far from over.
Mr Kalman experienced three more paralysis incidents, one of which required another dash to hospital.
Mr Kalman initially wanted to catch public transport to the hospital but his ex-wife, Courtney, talked him out of it.
He owes Courtney his life as he wouldn’t have survived without immediate medical intervention.
Mr Kalman was one of several beachgoers to be stung by a blue-ringed octopus at Balmoral this month, prompting a warning from authorities.
Mosman Council has warned beachgoers to be careful when picking up shells or navigating any rocky tidal areas.
‘When exploring rock pools, look but don’t touch,’ a statement read.
‘If you are bitten, seek medical assistance immediately.’
Despite its tiny size, the blue-ringed octopus is one of the world’s deadliest creatures
Each one has enough venom to kill 26 adults within minutes.
They are not usually aggressive but are easily threatened and their bright blue rings will pulsate as they defend themselves.
They’re most commonly found along Australia’s east coast, including Sydney Harbour.
