A dad was bitten by a false widow spider lurking in his slipper - that left such a horrific wound he has demanded NHS docs amuptate his big toe. Frank Fox spotted the eight-legged creature after it crawled out of his slipper and onto his foot after he came in from the garden - and was stomped on moments later by his son.
A few hours later the 60-year-old spotted a tiny sweetener-sized blister on his left big toe and, thinking it was simply an itchy bump, popped it, cleaned it and put talcum powder on it. Weeks later the blister grew to the size of a 5p piece and Frank visited his GP practice where a nurse cleaned and dressed the wound.
The Type 1 diabetic was referred to a hospital podiatry department where doctors confirmed he'd been bitten by a false widow spider bite - whose bites produce necrosis of the flesh. Frank was prescribed antibiotics and given bi-weekly dressing changes but the wound refused to heal and the infection started to devour the tissue, skin, nail and bone in his toe.
His toe is rotting, leaving a smelly 20p-sized hole so huge he's been able to pull bone from it, leaving no bone inside the toe itself. The dad-of-three, who claims the incident has left him with a severe phobia of spiders, demanded docs amputate his toe - a surgery he's due to have next week.
He's now speaking out about his living nightmare to urge anyone bitten by a creepy crawly while out in their gardens to seek medical help immediately. Frank said: "My toe is literally rotting off.
"When I got bitten I ignored it, I didn't think anything of it. It came up like a small blister and me being me I popped it... the worst thing I could have done.
"It became a scab, the scab just got worse it [the infection] just ate and ate and ate the nail, tissue and bone. It's left a hole that I've pulled bone out from. I can put my index finger into it and push down to the bottom of my toe.
"If I put any pressure on it I now I'd go straight through the bottom of my toe."
Frank's ordeal began when he popped out into his garden for a few minutes to move things around. After coming back into the house he noticed the tiny hitchhiker in his slipper but didn't realise he'd been bitten.
It was only hours later he spotted the tiny blister, popped it and cleaned it and thought no more of it until over the course of a few weeks it became sore and inflamed. Frank said: "I was going out in the garden to move stuff around and walked through the grass, I was wearing shorts and slippers.
"I wasn't aware of them at the time but now I can't go a square foot in my front garden without coming across one. I got in, sat down and took my slipper off. It had got into it and had a small white mark on its back.
"I felt it so I moved my foot, it fell onto the floor and my son stomped on it.
"I didn't realise I'd been bitten until it started to become itchy a few hours later and I looked down and noticed the small blister about the same size as a sweetener. Nothing happened over the next few days apart from it being irritable and then it spread, it doubled in size.
"When it scabbed, and it sealed as a scab, that was when the pus started pushing the scab up and it's just eaten away [at my toe]."
As the wound started to become sore, concerned Frank visited his GP surgery where he was prescribed a course of antibiotics and a nurse carried out dressing changes every two days. When referred to the podiatry department of a hospital in June 2022, specialists agreed it was caused by a false widow spider bite.
He claims surgery wasn't an option initially because diabetics have an increased risk of developing gangrene.
Frank said: "It was painful, I couldn't walk on it.
"It went from being sore to the extreme situation I'm dealing with now quite quickly. Once it went past the graze it became a scab and then that was it, it just spread.
"They didn't operate because of the risks of diabetes and gangrene.
"At hospital they cleaned and dressed it and took swabs to check for infection. If I lie on my side I've got to have a dressing on as it continuously weeps.
"It's eaten up to the toenail, that's not even scabbed anymore it's just hard skin.
"I can get hold of the toe and I can pull it forward like it's a piece of loose plasticine.
"I can wiggle it from left to right, there's no bone in it, the bone's all come out through the hole in it. The hole is the width of a 20p piece.
"I can't walk, I slide my foot along the floor. I've got used to seeing it, it's not gory anymore. I've sent the picture to people and they're like 'oh Frank I don't want to see things like that'.
"I told the surgeon 'I want this toe taken off'. Initially they said they couldn't because of the infection and [was told] 'if we operate the infection will just spread further up your toe'.
"But now I'm on antibiotics that's suiting me they're saying I can have the surgery, which I'm due next week. I'm worried sick about this operation."
Despite growing up with pet spiders, Frank says the experience has also mentally scarred him and left him with a fear of them.
Frank said: "I grew up with spiders. My sister used to breed tarantulas, they used to walk all over me.
"Now I can't stand spiders, I'm scared of them. I have bad dreams about them.
"I have to call my son if there's a spider in the bath to get rid of it, I really can't even look at them."
Now Frank, who's been on antibiotics for more than a year non-stop, is sharing his horrifying experience so people know to look out for the critters and get anything suspicious checked out.
Frank said: "Summer's coming up and people are going to be sitting in their back gardens, I just wanted to make people aware.
"Four months into the bite I haven't had one continuous night's sleep because of the pain.
"The pain is savage, you get sharp stinging pains then the pain of it because it's an open wound. It also smells horrible because it's rotting flesh.
"There's nothing that can be done for me, my toe's coming off in a week's time.
"If anyone is bitten go straight to the hospital and get it checked out straight away."
