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June 11,
2008 3:09pm CST
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 GRAHAM, Texas (CBS) -
A North Texas man credits God and a cell phone for helping
him survive a two-hour long bee attack. It all happened in Graham, west of
Mineral Wells.
James Dunsworth was clearing away cedar trees with his bulldozer on Monday when
the 72-year-old hit a bee hive deep inside one of the trees. "Just about one
o'clock," he said, "I hit that tree that had all the bees in it, and those bees
came up just like smoke out of that tree."
The bees attacked Dunsworth, knocking him from the tractor and onto the ground.
"They come right under the hood of that dozer, right in on me," he explained. "I
just laid there and thought, I'm going to have to do something or I'm going to
die right here.
As Dunsworth rolled down a nearby hill, the bees climbed inside his mouth and
ears, stinging his face and arms. "They stung in my mouth, my ears, all over my
head and on my arms. I had a pair of overalls on, or it probably would have got
worse," he said.
Then, "I just happened to think about my cell phone," Dunsworth said. He dialed
911.
Dunsworth: These bees are covering me up! Killer bees!
Dispatcher: Have you been stung?
Dunsworth: All over! They're all over me!
"Look at my ears," Dunsworth said tugging at his large, swollen ears almost
completely covered in bumps from bee stings. "My ears don't usually stick out
at that. They're just solid where they got inside of 'em."
Dunsworth said he rolled down a hill trying to get the bees
off of him.
"There's a cedar tree right down there where I rolled down the
hill. I got under it and took them branches and flopped it back
and forth kind of knocking 'em away from me."
It took two hours for rescue crews to find Dunsworth, clinging
to life under a tree in the remote area.
According to Dunsworth, one thought kept him alive during these two hours of
waiting for help. He had to take care of his daughter with cerebral palsy. "I
got to thinking about my little daughter, and I thought, I'm going to try to
fight it out if I can. That's what I done," he said.
"It was a terrible experience," Dunsworth said of the torturous attack. "I
wouldn't want to see anybody go through that. That's the worst punishment I ever
had."
Dunsworth is now recovering at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth. His muscles are still
stiff, and doctors intend to watch him for a couple more days. Still, he is
lucky to be alive. "I know I wouldn't have been here today if I hadn't had that
little cell phone," he said.
Dunsworth held up the small flip phone which, as a background, has a picture of
a woman playfully sticking out her tongue at the camera. It is a
picture of his daughter.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting
Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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