Dear Jon,Have you seen this?
A woman has had a finger amputated -
and told she was within hours of death - after being bitten by a false widow
spider.
Andrea Wallace, from Seaham, County Durham, was bitten in a Sunderland park and described the result as "like something out of a horror movie".
The attack left her with flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis, which required 10 weeks in hospital.
False widows are the UK's most venomous spider but extreme reactions are rare.
There have been no reported deaths from its bites in the UK and it is understood the spider which bit Ms Wallace contained a bacteria which caused the reaction.
Within an hour of arrival at Sunderland Royal Hospital, Ms Wallace went into surgery as doctors tried to prevent the poison spreading through her body.
She was later transferred to the University Hospital of North Durham.
Andrea Wallace's finger swelled
and began oozing pus after the bite
The hairdresser said: "The pain was like nothing I've been through in my life.
"By the time I got to hospital my finger was bursting open, there was pus, it was black. It was a right mess."
"They told me if I had been two hours later I would have been dead. It was scary.
"It was like something out of a horror movie."
Doctors attempted to construct a "false finger" but eventually had to amputate.
The mother-of-four has been left with a six-inch scar, but she said: "Losing my finger was a small price to pay.
"I could've lost my life."
The poor woman.
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