It’s normal for kids to get all kinds of marks and bruises on their legs, especially if they regularly play outside.
When Kristine Donovan noticed a black mark on the back of daughter Kailyn’s leg she presumed it was a bruise.
This would have been easy to explain as her 5-year-old daughter spent a lot of time playing outside their home in Mendon, Massachusetts and often got scrapes and bruises.
But when the mark started to turn black she took her daughter to hospital and doctors revealed what it actually was.
Kailyn had been bitten by a black widow spider.
“She never felt it bite her,” her mom told CBS Boston. “It could have been in her jeans in the location where it bit her, we just don’t know.”
Black widow spiders are mostly found in southern and western states in the U.S. but Kailyn’s story serves as a reminder that none of us are safe from these insects should we accidentally get in their way.
Thankfully Kailyn recovered after a course of antibiotics but if left untreated black widow spider bites can cause severe muscle pain and spasms, as well as abdominal cramps, for up to a week.
Don’t make a big deal out of it
“It doesn’t seem to bother her. She looks at it, she doesn’t think it’s gross, so I try not to make a big deal out of it, to make her nervous or anything,” Kristine told CBS Boston.
Kristine told the news outlet that she planned on spraying the house to hopefully protect it from further hairy friends entering.
Thank goodness Kailyn’s parents got her treated in time, this could happen to anyone and people need to act fast.
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