Mum almost loses leg from spider bite at music festival

A young British mum almost lost her leg after being bitten by a spider at a music festival, leaving her with a wound that became so infected doctors had to cut out a chunk of it while she was still awake.

Stacey Grimes claims she had been to The Big 90s Festival in Southend, Essex, in the UK with her partner last year when a mark appeared on her lower right leg.

The 33-year-old assumed she must have banged her leg at the event and not realised, mistaking the mark for a bruise.

But days later it blistered over and became infected. When antibiotics she was prescribed by a GP over a telehealth appointment didn't help, the mum, who works as a restaurant manager, went to the emergency department where doctors revealed it was a spider bite.

Doctors were then forced to cut the infected tissue out of Stacey's leg immediately while she was awake and refer her for a skin graft, warning that otherwise she could lose her leg to the infection.

The tiny bite grew into an infected, open sore before the surrounding chunk of flesh had to be cut away and replaced with healthy skin.

"I came back the next day and thought I'd bashed my leg when I was out. It just looked like a bruise so for the first couple of days I thought nothing of it," she explained.

"After a couple of days it blistered over like a water blister and that's when I realised it must be something else.

"It popped under my clothes and looked like it was going to heal but then it scabbed over and looked red and inflamed - that's when I rang the doctors."

When the staff at the emergency department inspected the wound "they literally wouldn't let me leave," she said. "They said they needed to cut it out there and then because it was infected.

"They said to me if I had left it any longer I could've ended up with sepsis and lost my leg. It was scary hearing that because I didn't think it could be that bad."

Arriving at the hospital almost three weeks after the spider bite, doctors immediately cut out the two-inch wide and one-and-a-half-inch deep chunk of infected tissue.

Stacey was then referred to another hospital for a skin graft.

"I think they injected my leg about 25 times round the outside of it before they cut it out with a scalpel," she said.

"When they were cutting it out they had to keep injecting it more and they ended up giving me gas and air like when you're giving birth because it was still so painful.

"I was crying. The woman in there was holding my hand and I was screaming in pain.

"I've given birth to three kids and I'd rather give birth than go through that again because it was excruciating.

After the skin graft surgery, the 33-year-old returned to the hospital for check-ups every couple of days for five weeks to ensure the hole in her leg healed properly.

Mum tells story to warn others of spider bite danger

She has now been left with a scar just above her right ankle but says she is relieved that the long healing process is over.

"Some of the skin grew over the stitches and they had to dig them out, so in places it still looks quite red.

"I was in so much pain for ages and then I couldn't walk, drive or go to work. It affected my whole life.

"The scar is not as bad now, the bottom part still has quite a few lumps and stuff on it and it's quite purple but it has gone down in places."

The mum now hopes to warn others about the seriousness of spider bites and to encourage anyone that suspects they have been bitten to get checked by a doctor as soon as possible.

"I've spent my whole life in gardens and parks and never thought that could happen - to end up having part of your leg cut off.

"I think a lot of people don't realise that we have spiders over here that can do that.

"Anyone that suspects they have a spider bite should go and get it checked out for definite."

Kennedy News

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