US3 min(s) read
Published 10:02 31 Jul 2026 GMT
What began as an ordinary family outing turned into a life-threatening medical emergency for Kansas mom of four Britagne Miller after an encounter with an eight-legged enemy.
She was camping with her family at Cheney Lake in late May when several spiders reportedly crawled over her while she sat around a campfire.
At first, the bites were little more than an unpleasant nuisance.
But within days, one on her calf became increasingly painful, swollen and bruised, prompting her to seek medical attention.
Describing her symptoms, Miller told Kake News: “This one kept swelling and swelling, and it was like a fire stir that's metal.
"It was like shooting down my leg into my foot, and it felt like I was being stabbed.”
Doctors soon discovered that Miller's condition was far more serious than a routine insect bite.
According to medical reports, surgeons removed nearly 300 milliliters of blood clots from her leg and inserted a drain to help treat the wound.
The recovery, however, quickly became more complicated as she developed sepsis and became close to liver failure.
Miller already lived with significant health challenges before the incident.
She has two blood-clotting disorders that were diagnosed during pregnancy and was also managing chronic liver disease and multiple allergies.
Those underlying conditions are believed to have made her recovery considerably more difficult.
As her health deteriorated, doctors reportedly told Miller that she had entered end-stage liver failure.
She said she was warned she could have as little as three days to one month to live if her condition continued to worsen, and her family feared the worst.
Miller said: “They couldn't keep my levels above even critical.
"They gave me three days up to a month to live, so that was scary.”
Despite the grim outlook, Miller survived the immediate crisis after weeks in hospital.
She was discharged in July and is continuing her recovery at home while doctors decide if she needs a liver transplant.
Her family has also launched a fundraising campaign to help cover mounting medical expenses and the financial impact of her lengthy illness, which included her husband missing work to care for her and their children.
Experts say the case serves as a reminder that while most spider bites cause only mild symptoms, venomous species such as the brown recluse -which is common across much of Kansas and the Midwest - can occasionally trigger severe tissue damage or other complications, particularly in people with existing medical conditions.
Health officials recommend wearing gloves when handling stored items, shaking out shoes and clothing before use, and sealing cracks around homes to reduce the risk of encounters with spiders.
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Published 16:49 28 Jan 2025 GMT
health4 min(s) read
Published 13:36 05 Jun 2024 GMT
Published 17:27 15 Nov 2023 GMT
A mother-of-two who attended the emergency room with a sore throat ended up with such serious complications that all four of her limbs had to be amputated to save her life.
Kristen Fox, 42, from Poland, Ohio, went to the emergency room with a sore throat, and was sent home with medication when tests revealed she had the flu.
However, her condition continued to worsen at home and she was forced to return to the hospital after becoming so unwell she couldn't even get off her couch.
It was then discovered that Fox, who worked as a high school assistant principal, had sepsis, which can be life-threatening.
Sepsis is a serious condition where the body responds improperly to an infection, and the infection-fighting processes turn on the body, causing the organs to function poorly, according to the Mayo Clinic.
If not caught early, sepsis - which affects 1.7 million adults in the US per year - can progress to septic shock and damage organs, even causing death if left untreated.
Fox's condition was so severe that she had to be placed in a medically induced coma to allow her body to rest and heal, and have her arms and legs amputated in order to save her life.
She was admitted to the hospital in March 2020, shortly before the first Covid lockdown was implemented in Ohio.
Fox was able to be slowly woken up from the induced coma after a week and despite the difficulties of life as a newly quadruple amputee, she admitted she felt "lucky" it was her limbs she lost rather than her life.
The mom-of-two told Fox News: "Sometimes I catch myself complaining, but then I remind myself that my kids could have been mourning my death. They're 12 and 10 now, and I can't imagine them living without me.
"People send me stuff and stop me in the store and say, 'I pray for you all the time'. Those are the people who got us through."
She was able to be discharged from the hospital a few weeks after she woke up and continued her recovery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Rehabilitation Institute, where she had three hours of physical therapy daily for six weeks in order to learn how to use her limbs again.
Seven months after she was first hospitalized, Fox was fitted with prosthetic arms and legs in October 2020.
She revealed that she regularly uses the ones for her legs but finds it "easier" to do things without her arm prosthetics, and even returned to work a year after she was hospitalized.
Fox returned to her post as assistant principal at Campbell High School, telling Fox News: "I mentally had to go back to work.
"I'm a very 'go, go go' type of person, and if I went out on disability, I was not going to have a good quality of life."
She revealed that her disability has also helped educate the children she works with, adding: "I had a lot of young eyes watching me, and I knew there were so many kids who would learn so much from my reaction to this.
"It's taught them about respecting differences and treating everyone fairly, regardless of their ability. And it's taught them how they should overcome their own barriers and tough moments.
"As an educator, I didn't want my students to think I took the easy way out."
Her local community also rallied around to help her pay for costs she incurred despite her insurance paying for some of her medical costs, such as the expenses she had to pay for renovations on her home to make it more accessible by putting on fundraisers for her benefit.
A mom lost both her arms and legs while giving birth to her child.
Brie Morgan Bauer was 35 when was forced to give birth to her third child, Beau, at only 27 weeks.
Earlier this year in February, medical professionals at a hospital in Kansas City were forced to undergo an emergency C-section in order to save the baby as well as the mother as per a report by The Daily Mail.
Beau was born shortly after the surgery weighing only 2lb 8oz but while the baby was being stabilized, his mother's condition continued to decline.
Please donate if you can. Credit: GoFundMe
Brie ended up developing Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome and was placed in a coma, which is a serious complication of a streptococcus infection that has a sudden onset, and usually rapidly progresses to multi-organ dysfunction, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Over the next few weeks, she went through multiple surgeries which resulted in her having to amputate all four of her limbs. She was also forced to have an emergency hysterectomy because a massive portion of the disease was concentrated in her uterus.
Not only that but doctors also discovered that part of her colon had died, so had to prepare to fit an ostomy, which would be the mom-of-three's third surgery in less than 72 hours.
Due to the high mortality rate associated with Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome, medical professionals had to work quickly to save the 35-year-old.
A GoFundMe page was set up in the wake of the tragedy, with details of Brie's injuries.
"Following delivery, the medical team struggled to get oxygen to her fluid-filled lungs and to stop her bleeding. Brie began to suffer from organ failure. As a result, the doctors placed her in a medically induced coma while they searched for the root cause of her condition. They advised the family that she was unlikely to make it through the night," the family stated in the description of the fundraiser.
That's when Brie underwent all of her surgeries including her quadruple amputation. During her coma, she did regain consciousness once, when her partner Reid, took the opportunity to tell her: "Brie, it’s Reid. The baby is safe, he’s beautiful and looks like you."
"In the following weeks and months, Brie would go on to have countless surgeries to repair her abdomen and remove dead (necrotic) tissue that was caused by the sepsis," the description continued. "She battled infections, setbacks and endured amputations to all four limbs: Her right arm, just above the elbow. Her left arm, just below the elbow. Her right leg, which is at hip-level. And her left leg, just above the knee."
While his mom was recovering, Beau was growing stronger each day, and just last month, he was finally healthy enough to go home to his family.
"As of May 20th, Brie remains in the hospital with plans to transfer to rehab soon and hopefully return home as a family of five by mid-summer," the statement added.
So far, the page has managed to raise over $356,000, and the number continues to grow every hour.
The family has been sharing their recovery journey on social media.
Their latest post shows Brie outside of the hospital, navigating in her motorized wheelchair.
"What a difference a week and a half makes!" the caption reads. "Couldn't be more proud of our girl for crushing rehab. Thank you to the OT and PT teams for helping her break down barriers."
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family as they continue to heal from this traumatic period in their lives.
Published 13:41 21 Jun 2024 GMT
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