DUDES ROCK: Guy Grows A Universal Antivenom In His Body After Injecting Himself With 700 Calibrated Doses Of Deadly Snake Venom And Taking 200 Bites In His Basement
No hyperbole, this might be the most insane thing I've ever heard. Something totally real, yet completely unbelievable. An act of humanity so profound but also one that's such a futile & stupid gesture, it simply makes no sense. Your brain can't reason with it.
How the hell does someone do this with their life? How the hell is this guy still alive?
(NY Times) - "Over nearly 18 years, the man, Tim Friede, 57, injected himself with more than 650 carefully calibrated, escalating doses of venom to build his immunity to 16 deadly snake species. He also allowed the snakes — mostly one at a time, but sometimes two, as in the video — to sink their sharp fangs into him about 200 times.
More than 600 species of venomous snakes roam the earth, biting as many as 2.7 million people, killing about 120,000 people and maiming 400,000 others — numbers thought to be vast underestimates. In Mr. Friede’s blood, scientists say they have identified antibodies that are capable of neutralizing the venom of multiple snake species, a step toward creating a universal antivenom."
I haven't squirmed while watching a YouTube video in a long long time, but that sure fucking did it!
How is Mr. Tim getting bit from 2 of the deadliest snakes in the world without a SINGLE reaction? Just a simple intro of the species like it's a One Bite pizza review, ZERO noise made during the bite itself, and then a quiet return for the Black Mamba & PNG Taipan to their cages. Just another day at the basement office.
That clip was uploaded in 2013 and does have 300k views but I'm shocked I've never heard of this guy before. And pretty damn upset he only has 12,000 subscribers on YT. Dude was literally born for #content but he's just out there getting bit for the love the game.
It's beautiful enough to bring a damn tear to your eye.
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All this time I've been on earth some random dude in Wisconsin has been injecting himself in the shadows. Enjoying a lil casual cocktail of the deadliest snake venom on the planet. The article above said 650 calibrated doses but the BBC said 700, so I felt like he earned the automatic round up.
Keep in mind, we haven't even gotten to the most insane part of his story. That's right folks, it gets even more incredible/tragic/inspiring. You must be wondering, why the FUCK would anyone do this with their life? Well, just think about choosing love ONE time.
"He didn’t begin dabbling with snakes in earnest until he was married with children and working in construction. He began experimenting with scorpions around the year 2000, but quickly switched to snakes. At one point, his basement lab housed 60 venomous snakes.
On Sept. 12, 2001, crazed by the terrorist attack of the previous day and by the death of a friend a few days earlier, he let himself be bitten by two cobras. They were his first bites by live snakes, and he had not built up enough immunity. He was fine after the first bite, but after the second, he felt cold, his eyes started to droop and he couldn’t talk. He blacked out and woke up from a coma in a hospital four days later.
His wife was furious, but he was angrier with himself. He vowed to become more methodical in his work, carefully measuring out doses of venom and timing his bites.
“I’d work all day, come home, play with the kids and the family, and go downstairs and do my stuff all night long, wake up and do it again,” he said."
What a goddamn legend and a helluva model American. That's how you respond to adversity. And I absolutely love that Tim Friede describes himself as a "non-degree scientist". Just an absolute DUDE.
"Mr Friede's motivation was to develop better therapies for the rest of the world, explaining: "It just became a lifestyle and I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing as hard as I could push - for the people who are 8,000 miles away from me who die from snakebite. I'm doing something good for humanity and that was very important to me. I'm proud of it. It's pretty cool.""
Major salute to Tim Friede for his service. Right now making antivenom is a pretty unreliable process. Gotta poison horses & sheep and then hope antibodies can match up. Lots of complications. And it has to be made separately & specifically for each species of snake. With Tims superhero blood secured, researchers believe they can make a universal stab that covers 19 deadly snakes all together.
Of course you don't inject yourself with various venoms in your basement for 18 years and not lose a little too. His last snake bite (water cobra) was in November 2018 after his wife & kids moved out, swiftly followed by divorce. But don't cry for him Argentina, Timmy is doing just fine. Does miss his snakes though… says he might get back into it soon… what a fucking KING.
Moving forward I'm gonna imagine him living happily as this dude I found on TikTok who makes incredible action cinema set to Linkin Park & Slipknot. The hero we needed and deserve.
Dudes ROCK.
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PS: This story reminded me of my favorite Human Giant sketch 'Gas Guzzlers' where Aziz offers a free tank of gasoline to anyone who can drink a gallon of it first… Rob Huebel as Rick Dade is able to do just that by slowwwwly building up his immunity drinking various bleaches/paints in his beat-off shed. So well made. Corn Maze.