Spider bite leaves man with giant rotting hole on his BUM on the same night he got engaged
A VENOMOUS spider bite became septic on a man's bum cheek - rotting his flesh, and leaving a huge weeping hole.
Jérémy Schalkwijk's terrifying ordeal occurred hours after he'd proposed to his girlfriend during a romantic getaway in South Africa.
The 33-year-old had popped the question while on a sunset stroll with Athina Yalias, 27, through the bush near Kruger National Park.
She said 'yes' and the smitten pair shared a celebratory toast before collapsing in bed.
But, Jérémy remembers feeling a sudden pain on his right bum cheek while sleeping.
Assuming it was simply a wasp sting, he ignored the pain for several days.
Unfortunately, by that stage the newly-engaged man was struggling to sit comfortably because pus was seeping from the wound - and the tissue around it had turned black.
Lucky for me it was on my bum, so I had some fat which stopped the muscle going necrotic.
Jérémy Schalkwijk
He'd been bitten by a violin spider.
Despite its musical-sounding name, which describes the violin pattern on its back, this creepy-crawly has a cytotoxic venom, which means a bite can result in tissue damage, and become septic or necrotic - in other words, rot.
After being rushed to hospital, Jérémy was met by medics who cut away the rotting flesh and mechanically sucked out the infection, leaving him with a gaping 5cm hole in his bum.
Jérémy, from Barberton, South Africa, said: "The bite was like burning under the skin.
"The pain was initially like a bee sting, then a wasp sting and finally, a scorpion sting.
"It was on my bum and I couldn't put any weight on that side. [After four days] I couldn't move anymore, so that's when I decided to go to the hospital.
"By then I knew it was actually a violin spider bite."
The jungle-loving tour guide, dubbed 'Tarzan' by his partner's family, added: "As I'm a guide and I love the bush, I thought it would be a good idea to do the proposal there.
"I knew it would be a memorable night, but I didn't know I'd be left scarred after it."
Explaining why he initially ignored the pain, Jérémy said: "I'd had African tick-bite fever before and it goes right along the bite.
"It was very similar and I didn't stress too much.
"By day four, it then turned very nasty and didn't get better."
He was operated in at a private hospital, with the tour guide saying it was "lucky for me it was on my bum, so I had some fat which stopped the muscle going necrotic."
However, Jérémy said it took a "long, long time to heal".
SCARRED
A special machine was used for nearly six weeks to mechanically extract all the pus from the spider bite.
Then, surgeons performed a skin graft, taking "some skin out of my thigh and putting it back on my bum".
That meant more time at the clinic, followed by a fortnight of resting at home - without showering, to minimise the risk of the skin graft of also becoming infected.
Weeks later, Jérémy can finally laugh about his experience, saying, "I joked with Athina that the scar left behind looks like an engagement ring. It's healed but there's a big circle there now.
Most read in world news
"Athina's family called me Tarzan because I'm always barefoot and love the bush, but now I realise I should have taken this more seriously."
He added that his fiancée is "going to give birth in nine weeks, exactly nine months after that night".
Jérémy's soon-to-be in-laws have just one fear, however: "Now they are scared that she will give birth to a spider boy."
