Mum nearly loses leg to spider bite

A MOTHER of four almost lost her leg when she was bitten by Britain’s most venomous spider.

Aideen Hynes, 34, had just slipped into bed when a false widow sank its fangs into her calf.

The nip caused her to throw back the covers but she couldn’t see t he offending spider, which had scurried away. However, the venom quickly spread and she was taken to hospital in agony when her leg swelled to twice its normal size.

Doctors feared they would have to cut away the infected flesh as the poison s pread i nto her ankle and f oot. Luckily treatment with antihistamines and antibiotics worked and she has made a full recovery.

Mrs Hynes, pictured above, said: ‘I felt something crawling on my leg under the duvet and tried to brush it off.

‘It must have thought it was under attack because the next minute it bit me. The pain was agonising. I didn’t get a wink of sleep. I was having spasms where my leg would shake every five minutes.’

Mrs Hynes, of County Down, Northern Ireland, went to a pharmacy the following day but was advised to see her GP, who immediately sent her to hospital.

She said: ‘My leg was swollen and it was scabbing over – it was oozing with pus. I thought I was going to lose my leg.’

She was given four courses of antibiotics and had to go her GP every day for three weeks to have the wounds cleaned and redressed. She said: ‘It’s getting better now, but for a while it was touch and go.’

Her husband Darrin, 35, caught the culprit and set it free in a field.