Featured Image Credit: NBC
Topics: Australia, News, World News, Food and Drink
Ali Condon
An Australian student is being flown home for emergency treatment after unknowingly eating rat poison.
Alex Shorey, 24, from Toowoomba has been studying in Tamkang University in Taipei, Taiwan for almost a year on exchange.
During his visit, the student was accidentally poisoned and has been fighting for his life in ICU in Taipei Medical University Hospital since April 18.
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It is understood that a type of rat poison may have been added to street food that Alex ate before the Easter break, leaving him with a life-threatening reaction.
The horror began for Alex earlier this month, when he woke up one morning covered in blood - just a few weeks before he was due to fly home to Australia.
The student has since been in and out of hospital several times before he was finally rushed to intensive care.
A relative of Alex's has launched a GoFundMe page to raise enough money to fly him back to Australia on a medical charter plane for further care.
According to relatives, the delay in Alex's flight home means that his organs are now severely damaged, and he is suffering from respiratory failure and anaemia.
Within the space of a few days, Alex's family exceeded their target of AUD$170,000 needed to urgently fly him home, receiving a whopping AUD$208,682 in total.
Thanking the nearly 3,000 kind donors for their funding, Alex's mum Julie Shorey wrote on the page: "Your kind words and incredible gifts have lifted an unimaginable burden off us.
"You have made us cry and allowed us to smile for the first time in weeks."
She continued: "We are so overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of love, support and kindness we have received, and thanks to the generosity of you all, our journey to bring Alex home is now underway.
"It was huge 24/36 hours and now to have reached our goal and to have Alex booked on a plane has left us in tears of joy. We still can't quite believe it!"
In the most recent update from Julie, she confirmed that Alex was now out of ICU, but still 'critically unwell' and relying on oxygen and IV medications.
Medics are now working on stabilising Alex so that he can be flown home on a specialised medical charter, which will fly at a lower altitude to ensure no further damage is done.
"Thank you all once again, for your generosity in supporting our family and for the compassion shown by people around the world for Alex," wrote his worried mum.
"Your generosity has helped fund the medical charter flight and will go towards the extensive medical rehabilitation Alex will require."