Seaham hairdresser loses finger after spider bite

Andrea Wallace, 44, was told by doctors she was hours away from death when she was admitted to hospital in agonising pain.

The mother-of-four, who was bitten on her left index finger while playing in a field with her two young sons, now fears she may have to give up her hairdressing career as a result of her injury

Ms Wallace, of Seaham, County Durham, initially thought she had been bitten by a midgie, but was shocked when the bite doubled in size within hours, growing worse overnight.

She woke in unbearable pain and was rushed to hospital, as she could see the infection tracking up the veins in her arm.

“I just couldn’t stand the pain, it had really swollen up, the skin was cracking and there was black pus bursting out of it.

“You could see the poison tracking up the vein in my arm, the veins were changing colour. It was like something out of a horror film.

“The doctors told me it was a spider bite because they could see two fang marks.

“They said if I’d gone to hospital a couple of hours later, the poison would have reached my heart and I’d be a goner.”

She was bitten by a False Widow, Britain's most venomous spider

She spent six weeks at Sunderland Royal Hospital as medics tried to stem the infection.

She was later transferred to the University Hospital of North Durham where she was diagnosed with the flesh-eating disease necrotising fasciitis.

She had 14 operations to try to save her finger before doctors decided it had to be amputated.

Ms Wallace said: “I don’t think I’ll be able to return to work.

“You do need your hands as a hairdresser, although the doctors said I would start using my middle finger more.

“I guess I’ll just have to get used to using three fingers and a thumb.

“But it’s a small price to pay. Losing a finger is better that losing my hand or my life, isn’t it?”

Necrotising fasciitis is usually caused by micro organisms naturally occurring on the skin, infecting a wound which has not been cleaned properly.