Lance Ryder, a two-month-old baby boy has died in Perth after a suspected spider bite.
Lance Ryder was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to Perth on April 25, but died 10 hours after his parents found the bite mark, reports Perth Now.
Lance’s family created a fundraising page to help cover funeral costs, reports Daily Mail.
Ryder’s uncle called the baby a “little battler” on the GoFundMe page which plans to raise $20,000 for “tributes and memorial stone.”
The family’s GoFundMe page says:
“Helping my big sister Mary out with tributes and memorial stone. Such a tragedy to hold your dying son in your arms. Marys 7th son Lance born on 28th Feb 2016 has just been tragically taken away from us at 3 months old. Suffering from a spider bite on his hand this little battler lost his fight for life some 10 hours later after being flown to Perth By the Royal Flying Doctor.”
The family had raised $1,140 in two days.
“Such a tragedy to hold your dying son in your arms,” the baby’s aunt, Kathleen Nelly, wrote on the crowdfunding website.
Deaths from spider bites are extremely rare in Australia, and the last confirmed case was in 1979.
Different types of spider bites
Spider bites are best considered in three medically relevant groups: big black spiders, redback spiders and all other spiders.
Big black spiders are funnel web spiders and any large black-looking spiders that may be a funnel web spider. Patients bitten by big black spiders must be managed as a medical emergency.
Redback spiders are fairly easy to identify and their bites do not cause rapidly developing or life-threatening effects but many cause significant pain and systemic effects.
Medical experts are still trying to determine the exact cause of the baby’s death and if it was a spider bite, what kind of spider bit him.
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