Joy Kennedy’s family beach trip to Port Aransas turned especially memorable after a stingray stung her, causing severe pain.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A family beach vacation takes a painful turn for one Austin woman after a surprise encounter with a stingray in Port Aransas.
Up and down the beach, families are soaking in the final days of summer.
Joy Kennedy and her family made the drive from Austin, hoping to start a new tradition before school kicks off. What they didn’t expect was that this trip would be unforgettable for an entirely different reason.
“It was our second day and we were just hanging out in the water and I mean we were not in the deep end or anything and then I started feeling like this really sharp pain in my foot and I was kind of afraid to look down because I figured I was probably bleeding,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy was stung by a stingray, describing the pain as unlike anything she’s ever experienced.
“So I’m an Army veteran and in Iraq I got my hip dislocated, and I can tell you, I feel like this pain was worse than that. Some people compare it to even having a baby, cause it’s like it, the pain just shoots up,” Kennedy said “It’s almost like lightning. It was through my foot and then it just shoots up like through your leg, it was painful. Like I don’t think I’ve felt pain like that before.”
Director of Community Engagement for HARTE Research Institute at TAMU-CC Jace Tunnell said it’s common for stingrays to move into shallow waters to feed during the summer.
“So, the fish is actually not out there to hurt anybody. It’s whenever they get stepped on or they get scared that they whip their tail around and so that’s for protection,” Tunnell said.
Tunnell said one of the best ways to avoid getting stung is by doing the ‘stingray shuffle’ when you’re entering the water.
“They just kind of shuffle their feet. Don’t lift your feet up, just kind of drag your feet along the sand and so hopefully if you do run into a stingray, it will make them go away rather than accidentally stepping on them,” Tunnell said.
With summer ending, EMS Chief of Port Aransas Daniel Johnson said to stay alert and if stung, get help from lifeguards, call 911, or soak the injury in warm water.
“Most of the time they’re always gonna be a minor injury, you know, they’re on that barb, they have a little bit of a jelly, it’s a protein and so they paralyze other fish. That’s how they get away. Whenever it’s in humans, it’s a nerve irritant and so that jelly gets in there and whenever you soak it in hot water – that cooks the protein and that’s what makes the pain go away,” Tunnell said.
As Kennedy recovers, she’s calling the ordeal her ‘kiss with a stingray’ and says it won’t stop her family from coming back to Port Aransas next year.
With Labor Day weekend around the corner, Johnson is reminding the community to stay alert for stingrays and other sea creatures.