BUCKEYE, AZ - We should all wish for a neighbor like Leon Sior of Buckeye.
When the post office accidentally dropped off a letter addressed to Sior's neighbor at his house, Sior walked next door to deliver it.
"As I was walking back to my driveway, I saw a 30-inch rattlesnake crawling through the chain link fence into my neighbor's yard," said Sior.
Sior spotted his neighbor's German Shepard going over to check out the snake.
The dog, Sior says, was clearly unaware of what was about to happen.
"I saw if the dog took one more step it would be in striking distance of the snake," Sior said.
Against his better judgment, Sior grabbed the snake by it's belly and pulled it back through the fence to protect the dog.
The snake bit Sior on both his index fingers.
"It's like holding your index finger into the flame of a blowtorch," said Sior describing the snake's bite.
Paramedics rushed Sior to the hospital as his hands swelled to the size of softballs.
At
Good Samaritan hospital, doctors pumped Sior with six bags of antivenin.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain comes out about a 26," admitted Sior.
Sior will spend a night in the hospital but he should make a full recovery.
"If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it exactly the same way (because) the dog is alive," said Sior.
For that, a man's best friend has Sior to thank.
A pretty good friend, and neighbor, in his own right.
