Mom credits veteran with saving her life after allergic reaction to beetle

PROSPECT, Maine (WABI/Gray News) - A mother says she’s lucky to be alive after suffering a life-threatening allergic reaction when she picked up a beetle at a Maine historic site.

When Antoinette Webb and her 9-year-old twins, Ella and Jonah, visited the Fort Knox Historic Site in Prospect, Maine, they never expected it would end with a trip to the hospital.

Webb says she picked up a beetle and suffered what was likely a rare allergic reaction to the bug.

“A berry green, beautiful beetle I’ve never seen. I just picked him up and said, ‘Woah, you’re so pretty,’” she said. ”Within seconds, I felt burning through my body."

Knowing there was no time to lose, Webb walked into the gift shop, where, thankfully, help was waiting in the form of Dean Martin, the executive director of Friends of Fort Knox.

Martin spent a portion of his 24 years in the Army as a medic, but he says he’s never seen anything like what happened to Webb.

“She’s lying there, and I’m holding her hand and talking to 911... She passes out because of a constricted airway. She’s got a lack of air. She’s got blue lips,” he said.

He rendered aid to Webb while his wife, Sherry, stayed with her kids. Another staffer, Alex, helped too.

“We gave her Benadryl. That’s the best we had, and then, we waited for the ambulance crews,” Martin said.

Webb has little memory of what happened, she says she knows Martin saved her life. She believes the Benadryl bought her enough time for the four epinephrine shots she’d ultimately need.

An emotional reunion

Just 24 hours after the incident, Webb and her kids returned to the fort for an emotional reunion with Martin, complete with several hugs and thank you cards.

“I was just bawling. Because of you, they have their mom today,” Webb said. “I just started crying... When I saw him, I immediately knew I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.”

Still, Martin says he’s no hero.

“If the roles were reversed, I’m sure Antoinette would’ve done the same for me,” he said.

But Webb, an Army veteran herself, insists she wouldn’t be alive if Martin, his wife and the other staff member hadn’t helped her.

“They acted fast. They knew exactly what to do. I’m just so grateful... If you guys come to Fort Knox, just know that you and your children will be taken care of,” she said.

Webb also credits ambulance crews from Bucksport and Stockton Springs for their response to her emergency.