A mum was left covered in such horrific bruises after she got bitten by a False Widow spider when out walking her dog that doctors thought she'd been in a car crash.
Tracy Keeble had been walking her dog Dottie on July 22 when she suspects she was bitten by the venomous critter.
The 43-year-old from Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, had been wearing sandals at the time, as opposed to her usual walking boots - due to the extreme heatwave then suffocating the country.
When she got home she noticed a bite on her ankle but shrugged it off as a red ant bite and treated it with insect bite cream.
However, over the next few weeks the marks began spreading across her arms and dark bruises formed on her legs.
Things got so bad Tracy was terrified she had sepsis and might lose a leg.
She visited her GP a few times before the bruising turned black and she developed a fever, so she rushed to hospital.
When she got to the hospital the bruising was so bad doctors kept asking her if she was a “victim of trauma” or had “been in a car accident”.
It was only after they ran blood tests that they discovered she may have been bitten by the dangerous spider.
False widow venom is 230 times stronger than native UK species and can even fell shrews and bats.
"It's caused me so much faff, I'm just disappointed I can't climb ceilings and make my own webs like Spiderman," Tracy, who lives with husband Rob, 44, and son Will, 16, told NeedToKnow.online.
"When I first saw the bite I just thought it was from a red ant or something and didn't think much of it, I thought it was my own fault for wearing sandals.
"But over the next week it started spreading and when the bruising happened I thought I had sepsis. I thought I was going to have to loose a leg or something, I was really panicking.
"When I turned up to the hospital, the bruising on my legs was so bad doctors kept asking me if I was a victim of trauma. I looked like I had been in a car accident.”
It now hurts the mum to wear jeans and she instead is forced to dress in linen and loose fitting clothes.
She also is unable to sleep with her duvet on top of her at night still and described the aftermath of the bite as “really upsetting”.
Tracy added: "The doctors even did a photoshoot of my bruising. I feel like I'm going to be in some sort of textbook soon.
"They were saying they hadn't seen anything like this before. I was there for a few days as a day patient and had visits from the dermatologist.
"They can't say for certain but they think the bite has triggered something else and I'm having blood tests for rheumatoid and muscular infection."
Now a month has passed since the bite and while Tracy has seen the bruising ease up, she is still dealing with the side effects.
She described her legs as still “tender” and said difficulty sleeping was the main problem.
Tracy found people often struggled to believe her story and end up googling the spider.
She added: "I'm just petrified of spiders now. Beforehand I was always the one to get rid of them in the house and would do so humanly – get a glass or a tissue or just leave them to it. They help with flies after all.
"But the other day my husband pointed one out and I just lost it and had to get my son to get rid of it asap.
"My heart was beating out of my chest. I'm absolutely petrified now. But I have to think positively as it is getting better.
"I'm joking to people that I should sue Marvel as I'm struggling to make spider webs from my wrists."
