When Zachary Harakas felt a sharp pain in his right leg while gardening in his backyard, he thought nothing of it.
When he looked down, he saw a brown spider running away and his first thought was, “could this be a… bite?”, but the pain wasn’t intense enough to give it too much thought.
Within days, however, the Missouri father of three’s leg began to swell, turn green and rot.
He was rushed to the hospital where it was revealed that he had necrosis and the tissue beneath his skin had begun to die.
Doctors cut away chunks of flesh and muscle to stop the infection and potentially save his leg.
Zachary Harakas of Missouri, pictured above in the hospital receiving treatment for a spider bite.
Doctors suggest he may have been bitten by the brown recluse spider (file image), which lives in 16 US states, mainly in the South, and is venomous.
His wound is now healing well and doctors say he should regain full movement and be able to live his normal life again, but they warn that if he had been taken just a day later, he may not have survived.
Tests showed Mr Harakas had suffered from necrotising fasciitis, a serious infection caused by the spider bacteria.
In the early stages, patients experience pain, redness, and flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, or fatigue.
But if left untreated, it can cause large areas of skin and muscle to turn black due to necrosis, which can lead to amputations and deadly sepsis, in which the immune system overreacts to an infection and causes organs to begin to shut down.
According to the CDC, up to 18 percent of patients who develop necrotizing fasciitis die from the disease.
Mr. Harakas was bitten by a spider while sitting outside on his patio on July 3.
In the following days, he suffered fever, swelling and pain at the wound site, before arriving at the hospital on July 8.
He spent three days in the intensive care unit before being transferred to the surgical and wound care unit, where he remains.
He could remain in the hospital for months and has multiple plastic surgeries scheduled to repair his damaged leg.
MR Harakas, a father of three, was bitten on the leg while sitting outside in his yard.
He is pictured above in the hospital with his doctor, Dr. Andrew Benedict, who is a trauma surgeon.
Talking to the local station KSH Issue 41 Mr Harakas said: ‘Outside in the outside world, when there is a spider bite, nobody thinks about it.
“I’ve heard about this… but here we are.”
Dr. Andrew Benedict, a trauma surgeon at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City who treated Harakas, said the bite may have been from a brown recluse spider.
“The initial thought was, could it be a brown recluse spider bite?” she said.
‘Sometimes spider bites can cause a local reaction and even cause the skin to die.
“In Zachary’s case, it didn’t cause the skin to die, just the tissue underneath it.”
Mr. Harakas’ friends now have Create a GoFundMe account to help the family cover medical expenses. So far, they have raised $2,860 of their $10,000 goal.
Mr Harakas, who runs his own cleaning business, is worried about how to cover the bills because he currently has no income.
A family friend wrote online: ‘Zachary has no income at the moment and has three children to support.
“He is incredibly kind and compassionate, and helps anyone in need. He is a dedicated father. Any help is appreciated.”
Brown recluse spiders are venomous, but their venom rarely causes serious harm to people because very little is injected with each bite.
Scientists say the venom contains enzymes that can damage blood vessels and kill nearby cells.
Spiders are common in the South and some Midwestern states, and tend to hide in dry areas such as caves, rocks, and log piles.
It is estimated that fewer than three people die each year in the United States from spider bites, and that hundreds of people are bitten by spiders.