A Perth grandmother is battling horrific injuries after she was bitten by a deadly brown snake. Courtesy: 9 News Perth

A WOMAN is lucky to be alive after she was bitten by a deadly snake that caused her face to swell and bleed.

Janice Taylor was walking along a pathway outside the Safety Bay Bowling Club, 50km south of Perth, when she felt a sharp prick on her foot.

“I actually thought it might have been a spider,” she told Nine News.

It was only after she had driven herself home and got out of her car that she realised something was terribly wrong.

“My head was spinning, my brain was spinning, I couldn’t move my legs,” she said.

After collapsing head first onto the ground Ms Taylor was taken to Rockingham General Hospital.

At first doctors thought she had suffered a heart problem, until several hours later when her face started bleeding — the snake venom was thinning her blood.

It was hours later that doctors realised she had been bitten by a snake.

Doctors believe she was bitten by a brown snake, considered the second most venomous in the world.

Ms Taylor said she was under the impression she could die.

“At 5am they (doctors) said to me do you want us to call your kids because we don’t know if you’ll be talking to them in 20 minutes,” she said.

Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Gannon said Ms Taylor was “very lucky to survive”.

Ms Taylor said she wanted to warn others to stay vigilant and is calling on the bowling club to put up signs to warn patrons about snakes and other businesses in the area to do the same.

The snake bite happened last week and she is now recovering at home and said she was thankful to be alive.

“I just thank god that I was strong enough”.