DENVER (KDVR) — Ask Wendy Brewer-Thomas about her husband, Ronnie Thomas, and she will tell you he’s a reliable man, husband and father.

“He is the sole provider of this whole house,” Wendy said.

Ronnie only misses work when he needs to take care of Wendy, she said. She had a planned medical procedure coming up.

“We were mentally preparing for that,” Wendy said, “so I thought maybe he was just stressed out and getting sick because he was worrying about me, like he always does.”

‘I thought he was just catching a cold’

Ronnie was feeling ill and he was getting worse.

“I woke up in the middle of the night because he was coughing,” Wendy said. “But again, I thought he was just catching a cold.”

Ronnie had pain in his hand and applied some medical cream to feel better — the only hint something was wrong. Then she found a black widow spider in her Montbello home.

“I panicked,” Wendy said, “and I threw it down and I killed it.”

Days later, Wendy found another on her husband as he slept.

“There was one on his side of the bed that was crawling up on his hand, and I smacked it down to kill it. It was in our bed,” Wendy said.

After a couple of days, the family took Ronnie to the hospital, where doctors found more issues related to a possible venomous spider sting. Ronnie was placed on a ventilator and spent days in an intensive care unit.

“On his brain scan, they’ve seen how he’s had strokes since he’s been under,” Wendy said.

Ronnie suffered two strokes, Wendy said. The family’s reliable Ronnie had been taken down by the venom of a spider.

“Just to see him in this state over a spider bite, I’m trying to grasp it mentally, but I can’t,” Wendy said.

Wendy has a message to folks who might be bitten by a black widow spider: Get help immediately before it’s too late.

“Know the signs,” Wendy said. “When your body is telling you something, know the signs.”

If you would like to help the Thomas family, a GoFundMe account is here.

When Ronnie is discharged from the hospital, Wendy said his reaction to the venom is so bad he’ll need rehabilitation to fully recover.