The family of a University of Queensland student who inadvertently ingested rat poison while on exchange in Taiwan says he is now booked on a medical evacuation flight to come home.
Alex Shorey, 24, from Toowoomba in southern Queensland has been in Taipei Medical University hospital since April 18 after consuming the rat poison superwarfarin about a month ago.
He had anaphylactic reactions to the vitamin K and plasma treatments he had been on and his family wanted him brought back to Australia to be treated by specialist toxicologists.
Mr Shorey's aunt, Lizzy Shorey-Kitson, told the ABC more than $200,000 had been raised, which was enough to pay for a chartered medical flight home.
That flight was not covered by insurance.
On the improve
Mr Shorey's father, Steve Shorey, said his son was improving and now needed less oxygen than he had been needing for the past week.
"He's eating, his blood pressure is coming up, and his pulse is also normalising," he said.
Dr Shorey said it was a mystery how his son had ingested the rat poison.
"All we really know is he was enjoying his time as a tourist and travelling around the countryside," he said.
"It's very difficult to know where it has come from."
Dr Shorey said the fundraising results had been "overwhelming and crazy".
"We're just so grateful," he said.
Ms Shorey-Kitson said the fundraising had enabled the family to put plans in place and concentrate on getting Alex home.
She planning was underway with Gold Coast-based company Medical Rescue.
Mr Shorey is expected to be flown home on Monday.
'The biggest nightmare'
Ms Shorey-Kitson said the plan was for Mr Shorey to be taken to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, where a specialist toxicologist team would be awaiting his arrival, but that could change.
"He may come into Brisbane first and then the team from Sydney may come up here — it's a moving feast at the moment," she said.
Ms Shorey-Kitson said the main priority was preventing further damage to Mr Shorey's organs.
"This was the biggest nightmare for us and he's not out of the woods yet," she said.
"But the fact that we're able to get him home and get him treated with the right medical teams and specialists, it's a huge sense of relief for all of us."
The fundraiser ran for fewer than three days.
Ms Shorey-Kitson said the family needed about $172,000 for the flight and the remainder of the funds raised would be donated to Medical Rescue.
'Incredibly tough'
Mr Shorey was in Taipei on exchange studying Mandarin, as part of his languages and marketing degree.
He had finished the exchange when he inadvertently ingested the poison, which his family believe was in some food that he ate.
On Friday afternoon, before the return flight had been booked, Mr Shorey's brother, Jean-Luc Shorey, told the ABC it was "incredibly tough" seeing his younger brother in this situation, especially as he had done nothing to end up in it.
"Out of me and him he's always the one that makes someone laugh and makes someone smile," he said.
"He's a very happy guy and not afraid to go up and talk to anyone.
"He's always going up and making new friends — that's something I've always admired about Alex.
"It's really hard to see him because he just can't smile, even now, which is something that I'm not used to seeing."
The University of Queensland said it was providing support to Mr Shorey's family.
