Georgia Woman Dies After Being Bitten by Fire Ants: Family

A woman has died after she accidentally stepped on a hill of fire ants near her home, her family has said.

Cathy Weed, who lived in Lawrenceville, Georgia, suffered a severe allergic reaction after stepping on the pile of ants on June 24, WSB reported. She died before she could get treatment.

Weed was a mother to a 15-year-old son, who is a baseball player at the local Mountain View High School. Members of the baseball team gathered to remember his mother the day after her death.

"Cathy always had a smile on her face. She was always just so cheerful, always cheering on every boy on the team, not just her son," a friend of Weeds, Zuhera Waite, told WSB.

Fire ants are a type of stinging ant that usually live in mounds of mud in the ground. They can be found in several U.S. states and can sometimes become invasive. Fire ants are one of the most common types of ants in Georgia, but are not native.

While fire ants do bite, for most people the pain is far less than that of a bee sting, and usually just results in swelling and redness.

But for people with a fire ant allergy, stings can cause a life-threatening situation called anaphylaxis—a severe allergic reaction that can occur within minutes or even seconds of being exposed to an allergen.

These allergic reactions need to be treated straight away, usually with a hormone called epinephrine. This can usually be carried around in an epipen.

Weed's son's baseball team has been working to raise money for his family after the tragic incident, WSB reported.

Jason Johnson, the baseball team's coach, said on a Facebook post that Weed's son was his mother's "whole world" and "she was his as well."

"It is a very difficult time for our community and families, as Cathy was an absolutely wonderful person and loved by everyone," Johnson wrote. "I am very proud of our Bears baseball players for loving on their teammate last night and over the weekend, and know they will continue to raise the Weed family up during this difficult time. Several people have begun to set up food trains and other support systems for the family."

So far, the community has raised over $4,000 to support the family, WSB reported.

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