Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Shawaz Ahmad

Woman left with 'golf ball-sized lump' after being bitten by false widow spider in sleep

A restaurant manager claims a false widow spider sneaked in through her bedroom window and bit into her arm while she was sleeping.

Kayleigh Ward, 27, woke up one morning to find her upper left arm had swollen and turned red - before the bite began to spread.

The bite left a throbbing "golf ball-sized" lump that eventually burst.

Kayleigh, from Poole, Dorset, said: "I woke up with a lump in my arm. It was probably the size of a golf ball.

"I think I was asleep when it happened. I don't sleep with my window open. I just open it during the day for an hour or two to let some air in."

While at working the following day, she noticed that her arm had "tripled in size" before rushing to A&E, where she took a blood test and was given antibiotics.

Kayleigh suffered from a false widow spider bite that became infected (Kennedy News and Media)
The bite left a throbbing "golf ball-sized" lump that eventually burst (Kennedy News and Media)

She said: "I went to work on Saturday and drew a line around my arm to see if it spread. I think I was infected or allergic to the bite.

"I then went to the hospital to A&E and they took some blood tests. I was there for about seven hours and didn't see a doctor because it was about 5.30am.

"They booked me an appointment on the Sunday where they gave me antibiotics and said if it got bigger to go back. The next day, the redness had spread about 3cm across my arm."

Despite experiencing throbbing in her arm, Kayleigh went to bed with a hot water bottle pressed against the pain.

Warning: Graphic content

Kayleigh's sister, Natalie Ward squeezing the infected spider bite (Kennedy News and Media)
Kayleigh sitting while sister Natalie squeezes bite (Kennedy News and Media)

Kayleigh, who is also a type one diabetic patient, found out on her third trip to hospital that she had been bitten by a false widow spider, which was believed to entered through her bedroom door.

"I was worried at first because they didn't tell me what it was until Monday," she said.

She found herself in so much pain on the Tuesday morning that she begged her sister to squeeze out the fluid that had already begun seeping from her arm.

Footage taken by Kayleigh shows her sister Natalie Ward, 24, forced to squeeze out the infected pus from out the wound on Tuesday.

Kayleigh said: "In the end, I put a hot water bottle on it to bring it to the surface. The following morning when I touched it, it was seeping for about half an hour.

"When I woke in the morning my other sister, Mia, asked me how my arm was. All I did was touch it to show her and as I touched it started to come out of my arm, so you can imagine how full it was.

"[Natalie] was squeezing it for me in the video.

"I wanted to try and get everything out. It was oozing the pus for about half an hour. It was huge. After that, it wasn't as full so it didn't hurt as much.

"It was throbbing until all the stuff [pus] came out. I still have it on my arm almost a week later."

The hospitality worker is now fearful of a spider climbing in again, and has been sleeping in a hoodie while wrapped in her duvet.

Kayleigh said: "I haven't found the spider which is why I've been sleeping wrapped up in a duvet. I've never been worried about anything like that until this bite."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.