AUSTIN (July 29, 2010)--DerekScott “Bubba” Kirby, 3, of Goldthwaite, who’s been fighting for his young life for several weeks at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, was showing definite signs of improvement Thursday, according to Facebook postings from his mother, Deven Denman.

On Wednesday, Bubba opened his eyes off and on throughout the day and was “definitely aware of his surroundings.”

Doctors said he no longer required dialysis, she said.

On Thursday, she said she expects that neck and chest tubes will soon be removed, as well.

At the start of the week, plans were being made to transfer the boy to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, but then the decision was made to keep him at Dell.

Bubba contracted E. coli from the floor of a rodeo arena after he ended up with a mouthful of dirt when he was thrown from a sheep during a mutton-busting event and then developed serious complications that caused his kidneys to shut down and led to a stroke.

He’s one of the 5 to 10 percent of E. coli patients who develop a potentially life-threatening complication, hemolytic uremic syndrome, which develops when E. coli bacteria lodged in the digestive tract make toxins that enter the bloodstream and start to destroy red blood cells.

He’s unconscious and on dialysis and had a rough run last week as doctors attempted to wean him from the pain medication he’s been receiving, his mother said.

Goldthwaite residents have been holding carwashes and other benefits, selling T-shirts and praying for the youngster since learning of Bubba’s plight.

Word of the little boy’s fight has spread well beyond the town of 1,800 however, thanks to a Facebook page, Bubba’s Angels, which had nearly 6,000 followers from around the country Thursday.