Spider bite nearly cost woman her life

A determined Kathy Fisher of Newport plans to have an old-fashioned Christmas this year, complete with a "real" tree, loads of holiday decorations - all surrounded by grandchildren and children.

"Last year we had no Christmas," Fisher said. "On Christmas Day my granddaughter called me and wanted to come over. I was too sick to have her."

In 2006 Fisher, 55, nearly died from a rare condition she had been battling ever since the spring of 1998 after being bitten on her left shin by a brown recluse spider.

"I was only 44 years old," Fisher said. "It happened in our basement and I didn't feel it."

Initially the bite was only a small red spot, but then it grew increasingly aggressive and painful, turning from red to black and purple.

She was sick to her stomach afterward and at one time close to unconsciousness. It was something this mother of two had never experienced before and never wants to again.

The bite of a brown recluse spider will not kill a human, but its venom destroys human tissue at and surrounding the bite.

For Fisher, the incident launched a decade-long battle that ultimately left her with serious scars and home bound.

Barbara Bloetscher, entomology diagnostician with The Ohio State University C.W. Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic, said the spider is rare in Ohio, but not unheard of. It's native territory is Louisiana and Florida.

"Ninety percent of the time brown recluse bites are misdiagnosed," she said. "A lot of spiders can bite and may be venomous, but won't advance the tissue deterioration that a brown recluse will do."

Any bite or puncture wound has the potential for infection, Bloetscher said.

The brown recluse, also known as the violin spider, are found in secluded, dark places. Inside, they may hide in shoes, attics, basements, or seldom-used closets.

"The seriousness of the bite all depends on whether the spider is hungry or not," Fisher said. "There is more venom if the spider has an empty stomach."

Its bite kills flesh, she said.

"I measure my scar from my knee to my ankle," Fisher said.

Neither she nor her husband, Mark, was sure what had actually happened that night.

The mark on her leg, which looked more like a mole or wart early on, continued to get uglier and more serious. Tissue around the bite turned red and angry.

"I went to my family doctor and his diagnosis was that it was a wart," Fisher said.

But her general health deteriorated and she suspected there was more to her "mole" than expected.

"I kind of knew it wasn't just a wart. "It didn't go away. People began to look at my left leg and they would say that it looked like a spider bite. These were just layman observing it."

Little changed.

Three years later, after seeing dozens of doctors without any definitive diagnosis or help, Fisher checked herself into the prestigious Cleveland Clinic.

An Australian dermatologist assessed her condition and his prognosis was immediate.

"He said it was a brown recluse spider bite," she said.

Ann Bonner, Regional Urban Forester with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in Athens, said even though the brown recluse is not native to this region, non-native species (both plant and animal) are being introduced more and more because people move around, travel, and bring these into the area.

"As we move around, we also move around these things," Bonner said. "The gypsy moth is a good example. People go camping all over the country and the moth lays eggs on the campers and they are transported from place to place."

Bonner has high praise for the work of spiders overall.

"Spiders are one of the best predators in our gardens and landscape," she said.

For Kathy Fisher today, just the sight of a picture of a brown recluse is disturbing. She has no praise for them.

"Over the years she has seen at least 70 doctors," said Mark Fisher, her husband.

Fisher went for wound therapy at a local hospital, but her leg went from bad to worse.

Gangrene set in and all sorts of unexpected horrors began to unroll.

"I had a hole in my leg," she said. "I almost died in 2006, but I am doing so much better now."

In home health care since early this summer, she is involved in a new "mist" therapy that is expensive, not covered by her husband's insurance, but is working. All her other medical costs have been covered, she said.

"What this therapy has done for me is incredible. My scars are shrinking and my leg has improved so much," Fisher said. "The mist has pulled all the poison out of me."

Fisher attributes improved heath to her husband, family, and to her own dogged determination.

"I am just now beginning to feel good," Fisher said.