How 7 y/o child survived bites from deadly Taipan snake

Eli Campbell was just two years old when he was bitten by a taipan. He was reunited with some of the people who helped save his life.

Eli Campbell was bitten by a taipan three times when he was two years old, he's now one of the youngest people in Australia to survive a bite from the world's third most venomous snake. Pic credit: Fraser Coast Snake Catchers.

It was a clear day on September 25, in 2016, two-year-old Eli Campbell and his mum Brittany Cervantes had been riding their bikes and checking on their chickens.

Unbeknown to them, later that day Eli would be fighting for his life after being bitten by a coastal taipan, one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

This week he was reunited with the LifeFlight crew that flew him to Bundaberg Hospital all those years ago.

Brittany, at the time, was 12 weeks pregnant with her second son when she and Eli were outside enjoying a bike ride around their home.

When they went to the chicken shed to check on their chooks, things took a turn.

The old chook shed where Eli Campbell was bitten multiple times by a taipan. Photo Lachie Millard

“It was a perfect as a day as it could have been...we saw the chickens needed some water and so we decided to tend to them,” she said.

“One of them walked out and Eli went after it and within a few seconds I heard this ‘ow, ow, ow’, I backed off quickly to see what was going on and that’s when I could see the snake.”

Brittany then saw the small marks on Eli’s leg and took swift action, calling for an ambulance.

“I just ran back to the house with him and called the ambulance...he was getting quite lethargic,” she said.

“It went south pretty quickly so we knew he had been envenomated...every minute and every moment counted.”

Battling patchy phone reception, Brittany said things were happening “on the fly”.

Seven-year-old Eli Campbell and his mum Brittany Cervantes were reunited with the LifeFlight flight crew who flew him to hospital.

“There was a moment when we had to pick to go left to Bundaberg or right to the SES grounds to get help and we chose the SES grounds to the helicopter,” she said.

“The moment we got there and the helicopter landed Eli went into cardiac arrest and he was revived and taken to Bundaberg.

“You just didn’t know what you were going to be met with when you got there.”

Brittany and her husband drove in silence to Bundaberg Hospital where it was revealed Eli had been bitten by the taipan three times and that he would be flown to Brisbane for specialist care.

From there Eli was in a coma for a week and tests revealed he’d suffered a brain injury as a result of the snake’s venom.

Almost five years to the day later, Eli was reunited with Bundaberg-based LifeFlight Rescue Helicopter pilot Mike Thomas and aircrew officer John Kennedy.

Aircrewman John Kennedy shows Eli inside the LifeFlight Rescue Helicopter.

“We got the call out which was the initial 000 call...when we landed at Seventeen Seventy things dramatically changed quite quickly,” an emotional John said.

“He went into cardiac arrest very quickly, CPR was performed on him and he was stabilised...he was ventilated on the way back to Bundy.

“It was certainly a massive team effort...Eli was two at the time and I certainly remember what happened that day, the way he was carried as a small child.”

Pilot Mike said the team didn’t always get to the outcomes of the patients they cared for.

“It’s nice to see him recovering and fit and healthy,” he said.

“We’re all parents so whenever it involves kids it puts a bit more pressure on us.

“I remember just getting settled in and John running over saying ‘he’s just arrested’.”

Brittany said if it wasn’t for the help of the paramedics and LifeFlight crew, things would be very different.

Eli is now seven years old and one of the youngest people in Australia to survive a bite from the world’s third most venomous snake.

He has epilepsy and is now home schooled, but Brittany said he was a child who loved to give everything a go.

She said if it wasn’t for the help of the paramedics and LifeFlight crew things would be very different.

“He runs, he rides his bike, he love the monkey bars and hanging upside down,” she said.

“I could cry, I can see my little boy looking at me...this wouldn’t be the reality if it wasn’t for them.”