Little battler. Lucky to be alive. These are the words being used to describe a Queensland toddler stuck in an induced coma a week after being bitten by one of the world's deadliest snakes.
It's an agonising wait for parents Brittany Cervantes and Giles Campbell.
On Monday afternoon they were hoping to see how their little 2-year-old handled being taken off the ventilator to breathe alone in hospital.
A coastal taipan was believed to have sunk three bites into Eli Campbell's leg as he helped his mum collect chicken eggs on their Agnes Waters property in central Queensland last Sunday.
Little Eli stopped breathing and had a heart attack as paramedics worked to save his life on the flight to Bundaberg Base Hospital.
He was transferred to Lady Cilento Children's Hospital and his parents, including a 15-weeks-pregnant mum, followed.
"She's keeping strong for her little feller," said Blake Hyland, a family friend who has launched a fundraising campaign to help the family.
"She's also 15 weeks' pregnant, so it's something that's an additional toll on the whole family obviously.
"They've just had to pick up and go straight to Brisbane, which is almost 500km away. It's sort of uprooted their whole life."
Luckily only one of the bites injected the reptile's deadly poison, he believed.
It was this, combined with his pregnant mum's quick thinking to immobilise the bite site and a quick response from paramedics he thought had saved the blond boy.
Mr Hyland said Eli had a heart attack and "basically died on the paramedics" as they frantically worked on him while the helicopter arrived but was now stable in hospital.
"When paramedics arrived they were just astounded that she'd (his mum) done such a good job before they got there," he said.
Snake experts say Eli is lucky to be alive as the coastal taipan is the third most venomous snake in the world, and children are far more susceptible to their bites.
Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers' Dan Lynch said the bites were dangerous but could be safely treated with quick use of a pressure bandage.
Mr Hyland, a volunteer auxiliary firefighter and amphibious boat tour guide, said the boy was by no means "out of the woods".
He said an MRI found some brain damage, meaning possible future complications.
A campaign to raise $20,000 for the family had made more than $30,000 by Wednesday morning.
- With AAP
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