A snake hunter who was left fighting for his life after a venomous bite has married his partner – after the incident gave him amnesia, causing him to forgot he was dating anyone.
Mark Pelley had just started seeing his now-wife Rebecca when a bite from a tiger snake, which have extremely potent venom, caused him to stop breathing, and he was rushed to ICU – unbeknownst to his new love interest.
When he left hospital – after battling multiple organ failure – he was left with full retrograde amnesia temporarily, and had no memory of meeting Rebecca.
But a text on his phone from her accusing him of ghosting prompted him to reach out – and the two went on to “fall in love all over again”, tying the knot this week.
“Before we met [again], I went through our texts so knew we were dating – and it was obvious in our messages how much I liked her,” Mark, who is based in Melbourne, Australia, told Need To Know.
“I could see that I was chasing after her and she was playing a bit hard to get.
“When we met, I had to explain from the beginning how not only did I get bitten and get seriously injured, but I lost a huge part of my memory for a while and didn’t remember her at all.
“I went through the whole ordeal and said ‘I know from my journal notes that I’m in love with you, but I look at you right now and can’t tell you a single thing about yourself or us.
“I understand if that’s too much to take in and because I don’t remember you, it would be okay if you left’.
“Rebecca remained quiet for a bit and then said ‘I look forward to making you fall in love with me all over again’.”
Describing it as “one of the most incredible moments” of his life, Mark added: “The moment I touched her hand again, I instantly felt love in my heart.
“It shot from my palm of my left hand up my arm through my shoulder into my heart.
“My heart recognised Rebecca even though my mind didn’t.
“It was a very strange feeling love, but not know who I was in love with.”
Rebecca said she felt “awful” that she’d had no idea what was going on.
She said: “I don’t watch the news so even though Mark’s snake bite made headlines internationally, I was oblivious and thought he just stopped liking me.”
Mark was bitten by a tiger snake on a property in northern Melbourne after a piece of his equipment broke, back on 10 March 2024.
In 14 years of his work as a snake hunter, this was the first serious incident he had experienced, with his daughter reporting his pupils dilated to 9mm, he couldn’t talk, see or breathe properly, and multiple organs failing following the bite.
After 10 days of not hearing from him, Rebecca had text him saying: “Well if you don’t want to talk to me anymore, you could have let me know.”
Once he was out of hospital and able to get out and about again, the budding couple met up on 31 March – and Mark came armed with gifts.
He said: “I bought her gold earrings as it was her birthday recently – that I missed due to the snake bite – and also a nice diamond studded ring as a goodbye present as I anticipated she would not want to stay around.”
But instead, the two fell madly in love – with Mark having a new outlook on life after all he had been through.
They tied the knot this week with a “small and intimate” ceremony with their loved ones, and Rebecca is now set to join the family business helping find and relocate snakes, under the moniker Mrs Snake Hunter.
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