100 years and kicking: Happy Birthday, Bill Haast

Having lived through more than 170 bites from a variety of venomous snakes, Bill Haast can only be described as a medical miracle.

The former head of the Miami Serpentarium, Bill grew up in a different era. There was no real research into antivenom and medical uses, but Bill saw through this lack of information. Inspired by comparison of Polio's nerve effects and that of a cobra bite, he had a dream to cure the disease with cobra venom. Progress was being made, but research halted with the vaccine release.

The question of Bill's use of self-immunization is a hot one. But no matter what side of the fence you stand on, the fact that transfusions of his blood helping snake bite victims can not be overlooked. In his heyday, he was flown to donate blood to snake bite victims and saved many a life.

Controversies aside, Bill is still an inspiration to many, from visitors to the Serpentarium to a child in the Midwest who got a gift from someone Bill knew from the war, to the folks at Venom 1. More stories can be read on both his facebook fan page and Dan Boyd's PBase site, and basically every reptile site around today.

Bill is someone who inspires with his passion for doing what he lives, standing by what choices he made and showing no regret for how he lived. Happy Birthday, Bill. I have never met you, but will raise a toast in your honor today.

In an interview in 2006, Bill said he was the poster boy for venom. From the Miami Herald in 2006:

The medical establishment -- and the Food and Drug Administration -- never bought into Haast's enthusiasm for the lethal snake juice as treatment for multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritis and Parkinson's disease. In his case, he claims the venom has helped him live a long and healthy life -- with the exception of his snakebitten hands. ''I could become a poster boy for the benefits of venom,'' Haast jokes. ``If I live to be 100 I'll really make the point.'' Every week, Haast still injects his arm with a cocktail of venom from five snakes -- cobras, mambas, kraits, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes. The injections are a routine he began in 1948 -- the year he opened the Serpentarium -- and continued after he closed it in 1984. Originally, the shots immunized Haast against snake bites, an occupational hazard. Now, he believes, the long-term benefits of the shots have spared him from many of the maladies of old age. ``I feel like a man in his 60s.''

Last I have to share this interview because his doc gave me the giggles today. From 1962 after a King Cobra bite, an interview with both Bill and his Doc.