VALDOSTA — A Brooks County girl who came close to dying from a rattlesnake bite has been discharged from the hospital and is back home.

Maisy Lamica, 5, was discharged from Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, Fla., Thursday night, said her mother, Cyndi Spell.

“She’s glad to be home, running around,” she said.

Spell said Maisy and her siblings were at their father’s house in Berrien County for a weekend visit June 18 when she and her older sister ran over to where a pet cat was against a tree. They did not realize that the cat had cornered a rattlesnake.

“It lunged out and bit her several times,” Spell said.

Her father called 911 and Maisy was rushed to South Georgia Medical Center; however, she went into anaphylactic shock — a severe allergic reaction to the snake’s venom — in the ambulance, her mother said.

SGMC life-flighted her to Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, Fla., because the Valdosta hospital doesn’t have a pediatric intensive care unit, Spell said.

At Shands, Maisy was given at least 41 vials of antivenin, her mother said.

Now that the family is home, they will be watching Maisy for a while for any reaction to the antivenin serum, since she had to be given so much, Spell said.

Meanwhile, Maisy’s father has begun “snake recon” on his property, she said.

The child realizes she was bitten but doesn’t understand how serious it was, Spell said.

“She doesn’t know how close she came to dying,” her mother said.

One of Spell’s friends set up a GoFundMe account Monday morning for Maisy to help the family. The original goal was $5,000, but that was surpassed Monday, so the goal was bumped up to $20,000. As of Friday morning, the account had gathered almost $14,000 in donations.

The GoFundMe account for Maisy can be found at https://gofund.me/d5a19293.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.