Tacoma man faces amputation after mysterious spider bite

TACOMA — Imagine getting bit by a spider, ending up in the hospital, and doctors tell you they have to amputate your toes and possibly your feet. That’s what a Tacoma man is going through.

“I just can’t believe that I can have this extensive of medical issues with basically a spider bite,” Jesse Elting told KIRO 7.

• Follow this link to read additional stories from KIRO 7

Elting is a contractor. On June 1, he was at a customer’s house providing an estimate on a deck when a spider bit him.

After several tests, Jesse says doctors have told him it might have been a brown-recluse spider, although that species is not native to Washington. According to the State Department of Health, the two most venomous arachnids found in our state are black widows and yellow sac spiders.

“Bit me on the chest right here, and then fell onto my arm, and bit me on my arm, and then of course like a smart guy I had some flip-flops on with no socks, so it fell on my feet and bit me once or twice on my feet,” said Elting.

Immediately he was in pain.

“It was like a really bad hornet sting, and when it first happened it was just a very, very small black dot on my chest,” he said.

Do spiders sleep? Study suggests they may snooze like humans

Forty-eight hours later, it was a much different story.

“I got very, very sick in a short period of time — 48 hours, black on my toes and both of my hands have blisters,” Elting recalled.

Jesse has been in the hospital for 13 days now, and has made some progress.

“I spent four days in the ICU and I was on blood dialysis for three or four days,” he said.

But, recently he got some devastating news from his doctor.

“I’m going to have a lot of my toes amputated because I lost all the restriction to the blood flow… I possibly might lose part of my feet as well and so that definitely gives me a lot of anxiety,” Elting said.

Despite the situation he’s keeping his spirits high.

“There’s things you can change in life, and there’s things you can’t, so just trying to be as positive as possible.”

• Follow this link to read additional stories from KIRO 7