In the days before Kamberlyn Bowler fell ill, she went to McDonald’s several times for her favorite meal: a quarter-pound burger with cheese and extra pickles. The previously healthy and active 15-year-old is now hospitalized and battling kidney failure, a rare and life-threatening complication of E. coli poisoning.
Kamberlyn, of Grand Junction, Colorado, is one of dozens of people who say they got sick after eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 75 people in 13 states have been infected with E. coli after eating at the fast food chain. One person has died.
McDonald’s says the most likely source of the contamination was the sliced onions served in its Quarter Pounders. The fast food giant has removed onions from its menu. The distributor of that product, California-based Taylor Farms, has said that while no specific ingredient has been confirmed as the source of the outbreak, it has “preemptively removed” yellow onions from Colorado facilities that distributed products. to food service customers.
In her first interview about her ordeal, Kamberlyn, a high school freshman, wiped away tears as she summarized how the past few weeks have felt: “It hasn’t been fun,” she said via Zoom from her hospital room Monday. the afternoon.
Kamberlyn’s mother, Brittany Randall, said her daughter’s symptoms began this month with fever and stomach pain. Neither Kamberlyn nor Randall were too worried at first.
“We both thought he just had a fever, like a flu or something, a stomach bug,” Kamberlyn explained. “But then I started vomiting, having diarrhea, and I had blood, so I got scared.”
Randall took Kamberlyn to the doctor and then to the emergency room for scans, which showed nothing significant, he said. But back home, Kamberlyn didn’t get better.
“I think it was the sixth day when he said, ‘Something’s wrong. I’m not feeling well. I need to go back to the hospital,'” Randall said.
This time, the tests showed something alarming: Kamberlyn had an E. coli infection so severe that she was suffering from kidney failure. On October 18, she was airlifted to Children’s Hospital Colorado outside Denver, where she has remained ever since.
“It’s been a roller coaster from when we got here until now. Every day there’s been new evidence or new things that show up, or it’s basically see how your body just doesn’t work“Randall commented.
Kamberlyn has been diagnosed with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, which can occur if E. coli bacteria attack the kidneys. He has received several dialysis sessions in the hospital.
Randall said her daughter’s kidneys are showing “some signs” of functioning again, but it’s unclear what the extent of the long-term damage will be.
“We’re not sure what he’s going to do in the future,” he said, adding: “He’ll probably have to have another round of dialysis. We hope it’s the last one, but we don’t know, and we don’t know if there will be problems in the future.” “.
Kamberlyn and Randall They plan to sue McDonald’s and they have hired an attorney who has already filed two lawsuits on behalf of other clients. But for now, they’re focused on Kamberlyn’s recovery.
According to the CDC, symptoms for most people infected with E. coli usually appear three to four days after consuming contaminated food, and include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting. Most infected people recover without treatment within a week.
But a very small percentage of patients – estimates vary, with some putting it at 2% – develop HUS.
According to Dr. Nicole Iovine, chief epidemiologist at UF Health Shands Hospital in Florida, who is not treating Kamberlyn, very young or very old people are most susceptible to hemolytic uremic syndrome.
“It’s a rare complication, but it’s certainly something that can happen. Unfortunately, some people end up with decreased kidney function or permanent kidney failure,” he said.
Before contracting E. coli, Kamberlyn had no underlying health conditions, exercised regularly and played softball, all factors that should help her as she tries to improve from HUS, Iovine explained.
“It’s not predictable, and the patient’s pre-existing health is really important,” he said.
The experience has been terrifying for Randall, who says she is grateful that Kamberlyn realized something was very wrong.
“If she had waited, if I had waited longer, I wouldn’t be able to be here now,” Randall said. “She went from being super healthy with no problems to possibly having kidney damage for her entire life.”
McDonald’s said in an email that hearing reports like Kamberlyn’s “is devastating to us.”
“We know that individuals and families have been significantly impacted, and the well-being of our customers is deeply important to us,” the email said.
In a video posted Sunday, McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger promised to regain customer trust.
“On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I want you to hear it from me: We’re sorry,” he said in a video posted Sunday. “To the customers affected, you have my commitment that, guided by our values, we will get this right.”
Ron Simon, a national food poisoning attorney who represents Kamberlyn and 32 other victims of the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak from 10 states, said he has received hundreds of calls from people since news of the outbreak spread.
“There are going to be many more cases in this outbreak than 75,” he said, referring to the CDC’s most recent case count. “(There will be) many more, no doubt.”
Simon said he plans to file Kamberlyn’s lawsuit this week. Of the people he represents, he noted, nine have been hospitalized and another has contracted hemolytic uremic syndrome.
“We hope that through these lawsuits and others we can find out exactly where the failure was so we can fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” he said.
