Overview
- Britagne Miller said multiple spiders crawled on her during a campfire on May 28 and she developed painful bites that later worsened into a large swollen lesion on her calf.
- Doctors admitted her to Wesley Hospital on June 4 for emergency surgery that removed roughly 300 milliliters of blood clots from her leg and placed a drain to help the wound heal.
- Five days after surgery the wound became infected with staph and a gram‑negative bacterium and treating physicians reported critical liver failure that at one point left her with only days to a month to live.
- She declined hospice, spent weeks in intensive care and multiple operations, was discharged on July 11, and is now home receiving therapy while working to raise labs to qualify for a liver transplant.
- No spider species has been definitively identified; Kansas State experts note only brown recluse and black widow are considered venomous in the state and Miller’s preexisting clotting disorders and liver problems likely made a localized bite turn systemic.