Zachary Harakas was gardening in his backyard when he felt a pain in his right foot, but didn’t think anything of it.
He looked down and saw a brown spider running away, and his first thought was ‘Oh… did it bite me?’ but the pain wasn’t enough to bother him.
But within days, the Missouri father of three’s leg swelled, turned green and began to rot.
He was rushed to hospital where it was discovered he had necrosis, meaning the tissue beneath his skin had begun to die.
Doctors removed large areas of flesh and muscle to stop the infection and save his leg.
Zachary Harakas from Missouri is pictured above receiving treatment at the hospital for a spider bite.
Doctors suggest he may have been bitten by a venomous brown recluse spider (stock image), which is found in 16 US states, mostly in the South.
His wounds are now healing well and doctors say he should be able to regain full movement and resume normal life, but they warn that if he had been taken to hospital a day later he may not have survived.
Tests revealed that Harakas had necrotizing fasciitis, a severe infection caused by bacteria from the spider.
In the early stages, patients suffer from flu-like symptoms such as pain, redness, fever, chills and fatigue.
But if left untreated, necrosis can cause large areas of skin and muscle to blacken, leading to amputation or potentially fatal sepsis, in which the immune system overreacts to an infection and causes organs to fail.
According to the CDC, up to 18% of people who develop necrotizing fasciitis will die from the disease.
Harakas was bitten by the spider on July 3 while sitting outside on the patio of her home.
Over the next few days, he suffered from fever, swelling and pain around the wound, and arrived at the hospital on July 8.
He remained in intensive care for three days before being transferred to the surgery and wound care unit, where he remains recovering.
He could remain hospitalized for several months and will undergo multiple plastic surgeries to repair his damaged leg.
Harakas, a father of three, was bitten on the leg while sitting outside on his patio.
He is pictured above in the hospital with his attending physician, trauma surgeon Dr. Andrew Benedict.
“In the outside world, no one thinks about being bitten by a spider,” Harakas told local station KSHB41.
“We had heard this would happen, but it’s actually happening.”
Dr. Andrew Benedict, a trauma surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, who treated Harakas, said the bite may have been from a brown recluse spider.
“At first I thought it might be a brown recluse spider bite,” he said.
“Spider bites can cause a localized reaction and can actually kill the skin.”
“In Zachary’s case, the skin didn’t die; it was just the tissue underneath the skin that died.”
Friends of Harakas have set up a GoFundMe to help cover the family’s medical expenses, which has so far raised $2,860 of its $10,000 goal.
Harakas, who runs her own cleaning business, is worried about paying her bills as she now has no income.
A family friend wrote online: “Zachary currently has no income and three children to support.”
“He is a very kind, caring and devoted father who will help anyone in need. Any help is appreciated.”
Brown recluse spiders are venomous, but only a tiny amount of venom is injected in each bite, so they rarely cause serious harm to humans.
Scientists say the venom contains enzymes that damage blood vessels and kill nearby cells.
This spider is common in the South and some Midwest states and tends to hide in dry places like caves, rocks and log piles.
It is estimated that fewer than three people die from spider bites each year in the United States, although several hundred people are bitten.
