PORT ANGELES — Joel Roberson was just doing his plumbing job the Wednesday before Memorial Day when a tiny spider bite caused a string of events that is still devastating his family.
Roberson didn’t even notice the spider bite — and isn’t even sure what kind of spider it was that bit him that day — but by May 30 his leg had swollen to nearly 50 percent larger than normal.
As a self-employed owner of Precision Plumbing, he had canceled his health insurance.
“The premiums just went up to where we couldn’t afford them anymore,” said his wife, Sandi Roberson.
So even though he didn’t want to visit the doctor, when Roberson had a severe fever and couldn’t participate in his family camping trip, the family took him to the emergency room.
He was given shots of antibiotics and a regimen to continue taking.
Some improvement
Although his condition didn’t get all the way better, it began to improve.
“One day it would be a little bit better, and so we would put off going to the doctor for another day,” Sandi said.
But when Roberson broke out in a full-body rash, they headed back to the doctor.
“They told me that I had to have surgery, that I could die from this,” Roberson said.
The spider bite had let in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — commonly known as MRSA.
The virus is common — one in six people has it on his or her body — but if it gets in the bloodstream through a cut or seemingly inconsequential spider bite, it is extremely resistant to antibiotics and can be fatal, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.
“Apparently, there is only one antibiotic that really works well on MRSA, and it wasn’t the one he was on,” said Roberson’s sister, Carrie Bennett.
She said doctors told him that if he had waited one more day, the infection likely would have killed him.
Surgical removal
So Roberson went into surgery. Doctors cut a 5-inch long incision to remove the infected areas of skin and tissue.
The gaping hole left in his leg was full of pus and other infection. He had to live in isolation for six days because the bacteria is extremely contagious, he said.
Sandi couldn’t stay with him, so she went home by herself.
Their 14-year-old son, Austin, was at his baseball team’s playoff game.
“That was the loneliest I have ever felt,” Sandi said.
“Not just because he wasn’t there with me, but because I was afraid of what would happen.
“I’ve always appreciated him from the day I met him. But this really made me realize what I had to lose.”
Ideally, doctors told him that he should have a machine called a wound vac to help close the incision, which is 5 inches long and about 3 inches wide.
No insurance, only one income
But because he didn’t have insurance, they wouldn’t give it to him.
“They wouldn’t even tell us the cost; they just said that without insurance there is no way we could afford it,” Sandi said.
So instead every day, Sandi has to pack the wound with chlorine-and-water-treated gauze.
Even without the expensive machine, the medical bills are piling up, and the family is starting to worry, especially since Sandi also recently lost her job, said Bennett.
More than $20,000 have already come in, and the bills for the surgery haven’t even arrived.
Roberson cannot work while his wound heals, she said.
Bennett has been collecting funds for the family with donation jars scattered throughout town and a Strait View Credit Union account in the family’s name.
Roberson said the community has already been supportive.
“I’ve had people offer to help me out, and a couple of plumbers have offered to help me with work for free,” he said.
“It is amazing.”
Bennett is also organizing a benefit auction for the family.
To get a collection jar or to adonate money or items for the auction, phone Bennett at 360-452-2388 or 360-460-5682.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
