This woman touched a plant and her holiday turned into a nightmare

Holidays are meant to be relaxing and give you the well-deserved rest you need. However, depending on your circumstances, like if you're a parent, it isn't always the most relaxing time in the world.

Sometimes, even once you've arrived on holiday, you find yourself forced not to be. A bad fall during a hike in the mountains, an insect bite by the pool or sunstroke can sometimes be enough to spoil a summer's rest.

This young woman found out the hard way that you shouldn't touch everything you see, as it can land you in the hospital when you're meant to be enjoying the sunny beaches and exploring the world.

The woman was on holiday in Spain

That's exactly what happened to Lucy Jones, a 29-year-old British woman on vacation with her family in the Spanish town of Cadiz. All was going well until a dangerous plant got in the way.

Originally from Maidstone in Kent, Lucy was on vacation with her husband Max, 31 and 3-year-old daughter, Lily. An opportunity to enjoy the Spanish sunshine. Unfortunately, the trip was short-lived for the little family when the stay-at-home mum noticed her hand felt like it was burning.

The woman touched a toxic plant

The culprit? Giant Hogweed. If you're not familiar with this plant, it's best to steer clear. Native to the western Caucasus Mountains in Russia, Heraclum mantegazzianum has been introduced to Europe and North America as an ornamental plant. Unfortunately, it is not only invasive but also dangerous!

Hogweed sap contains furocoumarins, a photo-toxic substance. Meaning? If you touch this plant and then expose yourself to the sun, you're likely to suffer severe burns on the parts of your body that have been in contact with the hogweed.

Read more:This woman who was declared dead wakes up 8 hours later during her funeral (VIDEO)

The woman went back to England

Lucy Jones tells The Sun:

I woke up and my hand was red and sore and it looked like a sunburn.

It was very painful.

But the story doesn't end there. The family decided to cut their holiday 3 days short and paid £300 to get an earlier flight back home.

We decided to catch a last-minute flight home and went straight to the hospital from the airport.

However, when Lucy arrived at the hospital, the A&E didn't know what to do at first as they had never treated this kind of injury before. The hospital had treated the wound like a burn:

They had no clue what it was, no one in A&E had seen it before. They treated it as a burn, they took all the blisters off and removed a lot of skin.

Fortunately, Lucy had no medical complications but she did have to return to the hospital to redress her burns.

This article was translated from Gentside FR.

Read more:

⋙ Man with severe burns receives a fish skin graft and the result is rather strange (PHOTO)

⋙ Woman spends 54 years with something unusual stuck in her eye after doctors didn't believe her

Sources used:

The Sun: 'HOL HELL My summer holiday was ruined after I came into contact with a plant worse than Japanese knotweed'