7yo old boy, bitten by venomous snake, is slowly regaining his strength and learning to walk again after spending nearly a week in hospital treating his extremely swollen leg

Little boy is lucky to be alive after he was bitten by a venomous snake and had to spend four days in hospital treating his extremely swollen leg due to the large bite. Due to the severity of the injury, the 7-year-old Elijah is regaining his strength and learning to walk again, but remains positive with a smile on his face that everything will eventually get back to normal.

The story about the 7-year-old boy became extremely popular earlier this month and the boy’s parents wanted to speak publicly in an effort to raise awareness and advise parents of children to be extremely cautious when it comes to protecting their children. In the case of Elijah, parents believe the venomous water moccasin snake had jumped out of a bush and bit their son while he was playing in the backyard as he was going to pick up a rock.

According to News4Jax that reported about the case two weeks ago, Elijah was admitted and spent four days in the ICU at the Florida based Wolfson Children’s Hospital. His painful encounter comes at a time of year when snakes are the most active. “He had seven bags of antivenom. He had to get a feeding tube. He didn’t eat for 4 days,” mother Sanita said to the station.

The mother further recalled that her son had difficult times when he was admitted to hospital and only due to the parents’ quick reaction, his life was not put in danger. The recovery process will be long and difficult task for the family, but the mother, Sanita, is happy seeing her little son’s improvement since the day the incident took place early June. The 7-year-old was not able to walk yet, but the upcoming physical therapy to regain strength, will help him get on his feet again.

“He said like a dark grey with dark spots and a fat head. A lot of the doctors went on their phones and pulled up different ones and every time he picked out one it ended up being the water moccasin snake,” Sanita added.

Although Elijah says that his leg still hurts, he is definitely seeing huge improvement, both physically and mentally. The boy will continue the treatment in the family’s home. However, his parents say they will continue to avoid the backyard since the venomous snake was not trapped. “My message would be, you know, just like when you think it’s not gonna happen, we’re good, it can happen,” Elijah’s mom said.

While it’s well-known that snakes are the most active during the summer months, only six out of 44 native species of snakes statewide are venomous. In addition, Florida’s Poison Control Center’s local office confirmed that there have been only 40 patients who have reported bites so far this year in the 10 counties in the Jacksonville area.

Health officials advise to immediately call for medical care in case you are bitten by a snake and avoid things like putting ice, trying to cut out the wound or suck the venom out. FPCC spokesperson Mike McCormick said one should immediately call pest control and avoid trying to capture a snake in case of encounter with a snake.

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