Have you heard about 20 year-old Dylan McWilliams from Grand Junction, Colorado? He was bit by a shark, a bear and a snake all within approximately three years…and the odds of that happening to anybody are 893 QUADRILLION to one.
In mid-April of 2018, McWilliams was bodyboarding in Hawaii and felt something “hit his leg”, according to an article written by Stephen Leahy on the National Geographic website.
“I saw the shark underneath me. I started kicking at it—I know I hit it at least once—and swam to shore as quickly as I could,” McWilliams told the BBC. The wound required seven stitches and the teeth marks suggested it was a tiger shark.
Apparently, you’re more likely to be attacked by a bear than a shark….and he was…
McWilliams, who has been backpacking across the U.S. and Canada for the past few years, also managed to beat 1 in 2.1 million odds of being injured by a bear. Last July, a black bear bit him on the head while he was sleeping on a camping trip in Colorado. He escaped by poking the bear in its eye. Park authorities caught the bear, found McWilliams’ blood under the bear’s claws, and put the animal down. It took nine staples to the back of his head to close McWilliams’ wounds.
So, what about the snake bite?
Maybe not so surprisingly given McWilliams’ luck, he managed to stumble onto a rattlesnake while hiking in Utah in 2015. He said the bite had little venom in it and decided not to go to the hospital, even though he was sick for a couple of days. The odds of being bitten by a venomous snake in the U.S. are estimated at 1 in 37,500. (The odds of being killed in a car accident are far more frightening at 1 in 112.)
Some refer to McWilliams as the most unlucky guy, but I would say he’s pretty lucky to be alive. These unfortunate events aren’t stopping the outdoor enthusiast from doing his thing, though.
McWilliams just chalks all this up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He encourages everyone to experience the outdoors. “I still go hiking, I still catch rattlesnakes, and I will still swim in the ocean,” he told the BBC.
(feature photo of Dylan McWilliams)
