Aussie family's heartbreaking decision after boy, 16, bitten by deadly snake: 'Wasn't aware'
Beau Horan, 16, has died after being bitten by an eastern brown snake in his Queensland backyard on Monday.
A family has made the heartbreaking decision to turn off their teenage son's life-support machine after he was bitten by an eastern brown snake in his backyard this week.
Beau Horan, 16, was at his family home in Gladstone, Queensland on Monday afternoon when the snake bit him on the leg. It was only when the high school student collapsed that his family knew something was seriously wrong.
"By the time they found him collapsed, they called an ambulance and it was only then they realised he'd been bitten by a snake," family friend Shaun Connolly told Yahoo News.
Beau was rushed to a nearby hospital before he was medically airlifted to Brisbane where he was put on a life-support machine.
"I'm going off what his mum has told me... she's distraught as you can imagine," Connolly said. "We don't know too much what the circumstances were, but we think he wasn't aware he had been bitten," Shaun said.
Family left with 'indescribable emptiness' after 16-year-old's death
The family have described Beau as a "vibrant, compassionate [and] a loving young man" with a "bright future ahead of him".
Beau's mum Bek Eddy and his two sisters now face uncertainty as they try to cover the unexpected medical and funeral costs, with Shaun creating a GoFundMe page to alleviate some of the pressure.
"It's just so sad," Shaun said.
Brown snake bites are the most lethal in Australia
Brown snakes are extremely venomous and are responsible for the majority of Australia's snake bite fatalities, with 41 per cent of snake bites in the country coming from the species. Around 3,000 snake bites are reported each year but fatalities are relatively low with two deaths reported on average.
The potency of brown snake venom is incredibly strong, containing severe neurotoxins that result in progressive paralysis and heart failure.
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