Teen fights kidney failure after eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounders

A 15-year-old highschool freshman is hospitalized with extreme issues of meals poisoning after consuming McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers 3 times within the weeks earlier than a lethal E. coli outbreak was detected.

Kamberlyn Bowler, of Grand Junction, Colorado, needed to be flown 250 miles to a hospital close to Denver in mid-October, the place she acquired dialysis for 10 days in an pressing effort to avoid wasting her kidneys.

She is one not less than 75 individuals sickened and 22 hospitalized within the outbreak tentatively traced to contaminated onions. In Mesa County, the place Kamberlyn lives, 11 individuals have fallen unwell and one individual died. Federal well being officers have mentioned that slivered onions used on the burgers are a possible supply of the outbreak.

The ordeal left Kamberlyn’s mom, Brittany Randall, anxious about her daughter’s well being and shaken at the concept a burger might probably trigger a lot hurt.

“It’s fairly scary to know that we put a lot religion and belief that we’re going to be consuming one thing that’s wholesome and for it to be damaged,” mentioned Randall.

She is transferring to sue the fast-food chain after Kamberlyn was contaminated with the E. coli O157:H7 micro organism confirmed within the outbreak.

That micro organism produces a harmful toxin that may trigger a extreme kidney illness complication referred to as hemolytic uremic syndrome, in keeping with medical consultants. Many youngsters are hospitalized for weeks and a few go on to require kidney transplants, mentioned Dr. Myda Khalid, a kidney specialist at Riley Hospital for Kids in Indiana who just isn’t concerned in Kamberlyn’s care.

“Time is essential,” Khalid mentioned. “Now we have to get by this window and now we have to get by it with a whole lot of care,” she mentioned.

The situation might be deadly, however most kids finally get better, she mentioned.

Kamberlyn mentioned she ate McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with cheese, further pickles — and onions — 3 times between Sept. 27 and Oct. 8. She mentioned the burgers have been simple to seize throughout a soccer halftime and whereas watching a college softball sport.

She began feeling sick within the days after and skilled fever, vomiting, diarrhea and painful abdomen cramps.

“I couldn’t get away from bed,” she recalled. “I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t drink. I used to be surviving on Popsicles. I felt like crap.”

Randall, who works as a jail guard, has three older youngsters and thought that her younger daughter may simply have the flu. However when Kamberlyn texted to say she had blood in her stool and urine and was vomiting blood, Randall mentioned she knew it was critical.

On Oct. 11, Kamberlyn went to a hospital in Grand Junction. Medical doctors mentioned she seemingly had a abdomen bug. She was despatched house, with directions to remain hydrated. By Oct. 17, she was feeling no higher and returned to the emergency room. That point, assessments confirmed Kamberlyn had acute kidney failure, her mom mentioned. She was flown to Kids’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, close to Denver, the place she remained on Tuesday.

Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s chairman, president and CEO, apologized for the outbreak Tuesday on a convention name with buyers.

“Nothing is extra vital to us than the protection of our prospects,” Kempczinksi mentioned. “The current spate of E. coli instances is deeply regarding, and listening to studies of how this has impacted our prospects has been wrenching for us.”

Randall mentioned her daughter’s future well being — and medical prices — are unsure.

“The hospital payments are racking up,” she mentioned. “And I’m a single mother and I simply don’t know that I can essentially afford all of what’s coming in any case of this. And I don’t know what the long run seems to be like, both.”

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The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Academic Media Group. The AP is solely liable for all content material.