WHEN Chris Cowsley shot awake choking and gasping for air in the middle of the night, he thought he was going to die.
It was about 3:30am when the postman from Sandon in Hertfordshire called 999, fearing for his life.
He told the BBC: "I get up, I try and cough, try and do all sorts - I can't do anything - my breathing's getting more restricted.
"I picked up the phone and dialled 999," Chris went on.
"The poor lady on the other end of the phone, I don't know how she understood what I was saying as I was retching and having to gulp and gasp for air."
When the paramedics arrived, they hooked Chris up to machines and looked in his mouth.
The cause they gave to his sudden breathing difficulties shocked him.
According to Chris, the first thing the paramedic told him was that he thought he'd swallowed a spider, which is why the symptoms had come on so suddenly while he was sleeping.
Not only that: the medic reckoned the spider had bitten the postman's uvula - the fleshy bit dangling at the back of his throat - on its way down.
Chris was taken to Lister Hospital in Stevenage where doctors put in a saline drip, and gave him antibiotics and steroids, he told the BBC.
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After several hours, he was seen to by an an ear, nose and throat specialist, who wanted to double check nothing else was the matter.
The postman said the doctor stuck a little camera up his nose to take a closer look - though he wasn't certain what had caused Chris's problems, he said the paramedic's assessment was probably right.
The specialist told Chris that his throat was no longer swollen and sent his home.
However, this was probably not the last the postman would see of the spider.
"They did suggest that I might pass it," Chris said.
"I went out and bought those insect repellents and put them all around the house - I'm not having that anymore."
Though all his physical symptoms have worn off, Chris still can't quick shake off the effects of that fateful night.
"I couldn't sleep until I vacuumed the whole house and put a spider repellant plug in the wall.
"We normally accommodate spiders in our home as we live in the countryside.
''We haven't had any problems with them since but I did find it hard to get to sleep again."
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He was grateful to the medics that had treated him.
"I just really wanted to thank the paramedics and all the team at Lister because I think they could well have saved my life," Chris said.
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