Girl, 10, in hospital for six days after suffering 'worst reaction ever seen' from deadly adder bite

Mollie Hawker's right leg swelled to three times its normal size and turned black.

She accidentally stepped on the snake while out walking with her mother, Karen, and two-year-old brother, Ellis, in a Bournemouth nature reserve.

Agony: Mollie Hawker, 10, was hospitalised for six days after being bitten by an adder

Mrs Hawker, 34, said: 'Suddenly I heard Mollie scream and as I turned around she flicked off her flip-flop.

'I looked down and saw a brown snake lying on the path. I saw she had two tiny puncture marks in her big toe, but tried to calm her down as she was panicking.

'Mollie's foot began to swell and the pain was so bad that I gave her a piggyback home.

'I had no idea what to do with a snake bite so I put some ice on it and raised her leg before calling NHS Direct.

Out of the woods: Mollie Hawker has fully recovered from her ordeal (pictured with mum Karen)

'But the woman told me that I was helping the poison to spread so she called an ambulance.'

Mollie was admitted to a high dependency ward at Poole Hospital in Dorset.'Her leg was swelling so much,' said Mrs Hawker. 'It started off red, then went black and purple - it was bruised from her foot all the way up to the top of her leg.

'It was two or three times its normal size - about as swollen as it could be. They lowered her leg to stop the poison from pumping up to her heart.

'A medical photographer even took pictures as they had never seen anything so bad.'

After 48 hours Mollie was moved to the children's ward and was allowed to return to the family home in Poole last Friday.

Painful: Mollie's leg is swollen and bruised after the bite to her foot

'She is hobbling around on crutches now and it's just her foot that's swollen,' said Mrs Hawker, a married mother of three.

'I just didn't realise snakes in Britain could do so much damage.'

Dr Antoinette McAulay, a consultant paediatrician at Poole Hospital, said: 'Mollie's was one of the worst cases that I have seen.

'The poison didn't affect her heart, her breathing or blood pressure-but we did monitor her breathing and blood pressure for 48 hours.

'It was just local effects such as severe swelling and pain around the affected area and a breakdown of tissue. She was in a lot of pain. We gave her antibiotics and minor surgery to the area around the toe to break down the swelling.

'It is incredibly rare for people to die of an adder bite. That is more likely if the poison gets to the systemic areas and the nerves that control the heart and breathing.'