Ohio man wakes from coma after being stung over 20,000 times by bees and swallowing dozens of them

• Austin Bellamy, 20, accidentally disturbed a bee nest while trimming a lemon tree.
• He was stung over 20,000 times by the swarm and had to be placed on a ventilator.

A 20-year-old Ohio man was stung around 20,000 times after accidentally disturbing a bee nest while trimming tree branches.

According to a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for Austin Bellamy's medical expenses, Bellamy had climbed a lemon tree on Saturday and was trimming its branches when he cut into a nest of African killer bees.

Per the site, which was set up by Bellamy's mother, Shawna Carter, Bellamy was stung over 20,000 times and had to be placed on a ventilator.

ABC affiliate WCPO-TV reported on Thursday that Bellamy had since woken from a medically-induced coma.

The Enquirer, a Cincinnati-based publication, reported that Bellamy's grandparents, Phyllis and Dustin Edwards, were watching him work on the tree and saw him being attacked by bees.

"When he started cutting them, that's when the bees came out, and he tried to anchor himself down, and he couldn't," Phyllis Edwards said.

"He was hollering, 'Help! Help me! Help!' And nobody would help him," she added. "I couldn't get to him because I was surrounded in bees."

Fox 19 News reported that Bellamy was airlifted to a hospital in Corryville via a medical helicopter.

Carter told The Enquirer that her son had also swallowed around 30 bees during the attack.

"So he had bees inside of him, and they suctioned bees out of him until Sunday morning," she told the media outlet.

According to an update on the GoFundMe page, Bellamy still has breathing problems and "still can't walk very well," although "a lot of the swelling has gone down." The fundraiser for Bellamy has raised over $15,800, exceeding its $10,000 goal.

Carter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.