There was an emotional reunion at the Bundaberg RACQ LifeFlight Rescue base this morning, when past patient Eli Campbell, was reunited with the air crew, who came to his rescue five years ago.
“I’m trying not to cry,” said Eli’s mum, Brittany Cervantes.
“I am so grateful.
“We’re lucky to have people who do this for a living.”
Looking at Eli now, you wouldn’t know the 7-year-old came terrifyingly close to death in 2016, when he was just a toddler.
“Saving Eli was a massive team effort,” RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Aircrew Officer, John Kennedy, said.
“It’s been a quite emotional journey, watching his recovery.”
Eli, who was two years old at the time, was in his backyard in Agnes Water, when he was bitten on the leg by a Coastal Taipan.
“I heard him say, ‘ow, ow, ow’,” Brittany said.
“I knelt down to him and saw he had little blood marks on his leg.”
Brittany scooped her son up and ran back to their house, to ring triple zero.
Local Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) paramedics travelled to the family’s home and quickly transported him to the 1770 showgrounds, to meet the Bundaberg RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter.
“The two paramedics on the ground were doing a fantastic job and I remember John (RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Aircrew Officer) came running over and said ‘he’s arrested’ and just to see the team swing into action… that just really shows the team work,” former RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Pilot, Mike Thomas, said.
Eli’s tiny body very nearly succumbed to the snake venom pulsing through his veins, but the fast work of Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) paramedics and the quick response of the Bundaberg RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter – just 30 minutes from tasking to landing – meant his life was saved.
Although their patient was critically ill, the medical professionals managed to keep Eli alive for the flight back to Bundaberg Base Hospital.
Eli spent some time at Bundaberg Hospital, before being transported on to Brisbane for specialist treatment, where he spent one week in a coma.
He is the youngest Australian known to have survived a Taipan bite.
Now 7, Eli has started school and while he still occasionally suffers seizures, he’s a fit, healthy, sensitive, clever and funny little boy, according to mum, Brittany.
“I am eternally grateful for the presence of RACQ LifeFlight Rescue that day,” she said.
