A CAIRNLEA woman has told of her terror after being bitten by a tiger snake on a suburban street last week.

Maria Da Silva was walking down Furlong Rd with her mother, son and two dogs last Tuesday when she felt a sharp pain in her foot.

“It felt like I had stepped on glass and that’s what I thought had happened,” Ms Da Silva said.

“I looked down at my foot and it was bleeding everywhere.

‘Then the snake jumped in front of me and I knew I had been bitten.”

Ms Da Silva screamed to her mother for help but had a hard time convincing her of what had happened.

“She thought I was joking until the snake jumped in front of her and she realised I was telling the truth.”

Her son ran across the road to call an ambulance.

Paramedics from Deer Park and Delahey arrived on the scene within minutes but the wait felt like hours for Ms Da Silva.

“I was terrified,” she said.

“I thought I was going to die because I knew snakebites can be fatal and I was in terrible pain.

“I just thought I wasn’t going to make it.”

Paramedic Daniel Gebeyehu said Ms Da Silva was bitten twice on the toe.

“The woman had two distinct marks that appeared to be fang marks on her toe, was sweating, had nausea and pain in her lower leg,” he said.

“She was given oxygen while an ECG monitor was used to check her heart.”

Ms Da Silva spent two days in intensive care at the Western Hospital before being released on Friday.

Doctors say she is lucky to be alive, after the poison spread as far as her leg.

“If it wasn’t for my son being there, I think I would have died,” Ms Da Silva said.

The Cairnlea resident warned others to be vigilant when walking along Furlong Rd, or using the park near Station St, where the snake is believed to have come from.

“I’m really worried that this is going to happen to someone else,” she said.

“A lot of children play in this area and the same thing could happen to them.”

Ten people have been bitten by snakes in Brimbank in the past two years.

Jeremy Wood, Brimbank Council’s general manager of city development, said the council did not have a snake catcher on staff but paid a professional to respond to calls when needed.

For information about what to do if you find a snake on your property visit the council website at www.brimbank.vic.gov.au