Woman hospitalised three times after biting spider hid in her loo
A woman has revealed how she was hospitalised three times after being bitten by a spider lurking under the loo seat.
In a story that is the stuff of nightmares Jo Kenyon, 34, from Leeds, was sitting on the toilet when the spider, believed to be a false widow, scurried out and bit her on her thigh.
Having flushed the spider down the toilet, Kenyon called 111 for advice and was told to head straight to hospital because of fears the bite could get infected.
There, doctors were forced to pop the huge blister which had formed under the fang marks, with the radio producer forced to return twice more to A&E to have the mass drained.
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The bite mark was so painful Kenyon says she could barely walk, and doctors feared it could lead to life-threatening sepsis.
"The doctors said that if I hadn't come in straight away then the bite could have led to sepsis and possibly have killed me," she explains.
The spider bite occurred last year when Kenyon woke up in the night and stumbled into the bathroom to use the toilet.
Having felt a burning sensation on her upper left thigh she immediately jumped up from the loo.
"The only way I can describe it is it was like when you brush past somebody who is holding a lit cigarette," she explains.
"It was such a sudden and strange burning sensation that I immediately jumped up, thinking what the hell was that?"
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After lifting the toilet seat Kenyon noticed a massive spider that had been hiding underneath it.
"I screamed instantly at the sight, managed to knock it into the bowl and flushed it straight away," she continues.
"It was so huge. It completely freaked me out.
"I looked in the mirror and I could see these bite marks - tiny pricks from the pincers.
"I left it for half an hour but it was properly stinging and when I looked in the mirror again, I could see it had blistered."
Kenyon decided to call 111 for advice, which is when the seriousness of her situation hit home as operators told her to go immediately to A&E due to fear of the spider bite becoming infected.
After arriving at Otley Hospital, she was given the shocking news that the bite could have become septic if she'd left it any longer, which could have had fatal consequences.
"It was really scary knowing that a spider bite could have killed me," she explains.
"It was especially frightening considering it happened in England considering I'd put off going to Australia for years due to my fear of spiders."
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Kenyon ended up being hospitalised three times within a week, with doctors having to pop and drain the blister before cleaning and dressing the wound.
Her third visit to the hospital came after pain from the bite became so severe that she could barely walk and struggled to sleep.
"I could barely sit down when the pain was at its worse, the bite was just in such an awkward place," she explains.
"I could hardly walk and I had to sleep on my front for ages because it was just too painful to sleep normally.
"It took months for the pain and the oozing to stop, and by that time it was winter so all I wanted was a bath but I couldn't get that area of my leg wet so I could only shower."
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After months of painful recovery, Kenyon's bite started to heal but she has been left with a scar.
Doctors told her that there are two types of spiders in the UK that can bite humans - garden spiders and false widows - but could not determine which had inflicted the wound on her leg.
Now she has some chilling advice for anyone hoping to avoid something similar, particularly those scared of spiders.
"I'd just tell everyone to always check under the toilet seat - you never know what could be hiding there," she says.
"I've been terrified of spiders all my life. Given that everyone knows how bad I am with spiders and how far I go to avoid them, most people's response was that it could only happen to me!"
Additional reporting SWNS.
