An active and healthy teenager has been hospitalized with life-threatening kidney failure after eating her favorite meal at McDonald’s.
Kamberlyn Bowler, a softball player in Grand Junction, Colorado, ate a Quarter Pounder with cheese and extra pickles several times between late September and early October.
But earlier this month, the 15-year-old came down with a fever and stomach ache, which she and her mother Brittany initially wrote off as the flu.
When she also started vomiting and had bloody diarrhea, she went to the emergency room.
The first visit revealed nothing unusual, but the second visit, on October 11, revealed that her kidneys had stopped working – and she was quickly airlifted to a nearby hospital.
Doctors there diagnosed her with an E Coli infection that began attacking her kidneys, preventing them from properly filtering waste from the blood.
Kimberly, a freshman in high school, is still in the hospital nearly three weeks later and has undergone several rounds of dialysis, where machines filter the blood.
Her mother said her daughter’s kidneys are now showing signs of recovery, and they hope the next dialysis session will be her last – but it is still unclear when she will be released from hospital.
Kamberlyn Bowler, 15, pictured above with her mother Brittany Randall, became ill after eating Quarter Pounders with cheese and extra pickles from her local restaurant in Grand Junction, Colorado
At least 75 people have become ill in 13 states after eating at McDonald’s and contracting E-coli.
Of these, 22 have been hospitalized, one has died and at least two are suffering from hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the condition Kamberlyn has.
Researchers say chopped yellow onions in the burger are likely the source of the E. coli, and the supplier – Taylor Foods – has removed them from sale.
After the outbreak came to light last week, a fifth of McDonald’s restaurants removed the Quarter Pounder from sale. However, they are now back on the menu after research found the beef patties were not contaminated – but in 700 restaurants they are served without onions.
Other fast food giants, including Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, have all stopped using onions, which they say is a “proactive” measure while the investigation is ongoing.
Kamberlyn, a freshman in high school, was described wiping away tears during her first interview with NBC News from her hospital bed and said her illness was “not fun.”
Her mother, Brittany Randall, said, “It’s definitely been a roller coaster from the moment we got here until now. Every day there are new tests or new things that pop up, or it’s basically watching her body just not work.”
She added: ‘We’re not really sure what things will look like for her in the future.
“She’ll probably have to do another round of dialysis. We hope it’s the latter, but we don’t know, and we don’t know if there will be any problems in the future.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson said in an email that messages like Kamberlyn’s were “devastating to us.”
“We know that people and families have been significantly affected, and the well-being of our customers is of great importance to us,” she added.
The avid softball player and high school freshman was previously healthy but has now been hospitalized for almost three weeks due to kidney failure
Kamberlyn described her illness as ‘not fun’ during an interview. She is pictured above before she became ill
The family plans to file a lawsuit against the fast-food giant in the coming days, making them at least the third group to do so.
Among them is Clarissa DeBrock, 33, who became ill after eating a Quarter Pounder at her local branch in North Platte, Nebraska. She suffered from abdominal cramps, diarrhea, nausea and had to go to the emergency room.
A man in Colorado has also filed a lawsuit against the fast food giant.
Kamberlyn has tested positive for E. coli strain O157, the same one behind the McDonald’s outbreak.
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Ron Simon, a national food poisoning attorney, said he is representing Kamberlyn and 32 other victims of the outbreak.
He also revealed that he has received hundreds of calls from people since the initial revelation. Of those he represents, he said nine had been hospitalized and one had contracted HUS.
E. coli are bacteria that are commonly found in the intestines of animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and deer.
While most are harmless, some can cause a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, including stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.
At least 75 people have gotten sick after eating at McDonald’s in 13 states, the CDC says
Many patients fell ill between late September and early October, although experts say more cases may emerge
People can become infected through contaminated water or food, especially raw vegetables or undercooked beef.
Healthy adults typically recover from an E. coli infection within a week, but young children and older adults are at greater risk of developing a life-threatening form of kidney failure such as HUS because their immune systems are weaker.
About 265,000 people in the U.S. become ill from E. coli each year, while about 100 people die from the disease.
Americans don’t have to worry about burgers, but salads, according to a new report.
Sweetgreen, a Los Angeles-based salad company on a mission to change fast food, was the biggest cause of illness among major brands, according to a report.
Diners who ate there were 10 times more likely to become ill from food poisoning or stomach upset than the average at other restaurants.
Applebee’s came in second, with guests 150 percent more likely to get sick than average, and McDonald’s came in third, with 60 percent more customers overall.
For the report, researchers tracked illness reports from 70,000 restaurants over the course of the year 2023 to calculate an average per 100 restaurants. They then compared this with the number of illness reports per 100 restaurants per chain for the same year.