Pictured: Jasmine Harris, 21
A trainee medic has been left barely able to walk and in excruciating pain for six months after being bitten by a spider.
Jasmine Harris, 21, woke up one morning in May with a small puncture wound made up of two pin pricks on her lower right leg.
She tried coating the area with antiseptic cream but it became increasingly painful, growing to the size of a 10 pence piece.
After taking herself to A&E, doctors diagnosed it as an infection caused by a spider bite.
But in the following days she lost the ability to walk as the area grew into a huge ulcer.
Tests identified potentially-fatal PVL-positive Staphylococcus aureus, a soft tissue infection which causes recurrent and invasive infections.
The 21-year-old said she is now unable to walk for more than 15 minutes without crippling pain and the injury has ruined her life.
The student is in limbo with no indication of when it could finally heal, despite a cocktail of strong prescription drugs including morphine.
She suffers night terrors and is confined to her home after being signed off work.
The trainee medic woke up one morning in May with a small puncture wound made up of two pin pricks on her lower right leg
Miss Harris said boyfriend Brian Carter, 31, has been ‘amazing’ during her ordeal and she would have struggled without him
Miss Harris, from Chichester, West Sussex said: ‘It has ruined my whole life. I have become uncomfortable, paranoid and feel ugly.
‘I have a limp and I’m living in pyjamas and trackie bottoms.
‘I have nightmares about it never healing most nights and see myself never being able to walk properly again.
‘I haven’t had a bath in six months but can shower with my leg covered.
‘I want more help because doctors don’t know why it isn’t healing up.’
The student is in limbo with no indication of when it could finally heal, despite a cocktail of strong prescription drugs including morphine
She added: ‘When I went to the doctor’s in May, I told them I was going on a two-week cruise in September.
‘They said “Not to worry – it will definitely have healed by then because you are a young woman.”
‘But it didn’t and I was determined to still go as it was the Canary Islands and we’d paid a lot of money.
‘I sat in the sun but had to keep it covered at all times and I couldn’t go swimming when it was 30C.’
Miss Harris said boyfriend Brian Carter, 31, has been ‘amazing’ during her ordeal and she would have struggled without him.
But he is at work for 10 hours a day as an accountant leaving her home alone after she was signed off from her job in a doctor’s surgery two months ago.
She now hopes alternative treatment overseas will help, despite being unable to walk for longer than 15 minutes due to the severe pain she experiences.
She added: ‘It’s absolutely horrendous – I wouldn’t want anyone else to experience pain like this.’