A Colorado teenager got sick from McDonald’s before the fast food chain’s deadly E. coli outbreak was detected.
Kamberlyn Bowler, a 15-year-old high school student, has been fighting kidney failure since she consumed multiple Quarter Pounders, the Associated Press reported.
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Bowler has been dealing with severe complications of food poisoning since eating three Quarter Pounders between Sept. 27 and Oct. 8. In the days that followed, Bowler developed a fever, began vomiting, and had diarrhea.
“I couldn’t get out of bed,” she told the outlet. “I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t drink. I was surviving on Popsicles. I felt like crap.”
Kamberlyn Bowler’s Illness Is Identified
When Bowler began to see blood in her stool and urine, her mother, Brittany Randall, took her to the hospital. She was initially diagnosed with a stomach bug and sent home, but, when nearly a week passed with no improvement, Bowler returned to the ER.
Tests found that Bowler was in acute kidney failure.
The complication isn’t unheard of. In 2018, the American Kidney Fund reported that around five to 10 percent of people who are infected with E. coli develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). In people who develop HUS, E. coli bacteria destroy red blood cells, which can block kidneys’ filters and damage them, leading to kidney failure.
The teen was flown 250 miles to receive dialysis at a Denver hospital, AP reported. For Bowler and her mom, the ordeal has been terrifying—and expensive.
“The hospital bills are racking up,” Randall said. “And I’m a single mom and I just don’t know that I can necessarily afford all of what’s coming after all of this. And I don’t know what the future looks like, either.”
What to Know About McDonald’s E. Coli Outbreak
Bowler’s Colorado county has been a hotbed for McDonald’s E. coli outbreak. In addition to Bowler, 11 people have been sickened and one has died. Nationwide, 75 are sick and 22 have been hospitalized.
Earlier this month, McDonald’s announced that the outbreak had been linked to the sandwich’s slivered onions. Amid the health scare, the chain removed the burger from menus in Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, as well as portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
The restaurant later revealed that it has decided stop sourcing onions from Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility, where the outbreak is thought to have originated.
On Oct. 27, after confirming that the beef patties in the Quarter Pounder were not the source of the contamination, McDonald’s said it would begin serving the menu item again in the coming week. Affected restaurants, however, will do so without onions.
