Teen with E. coli suffers from kidney failure after eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounders

The summary

• A high school freshman in Colorado has been hospitalized with a rare and dangerous complication of E. coli poisoning.

• Kamberlyn Bowler, 15, said she ate McDonald’s Quarter Pounders in the days before she got sick.

• At least 75 people have been infected with E. coli in an outbreak that McDonald’s says is likely linked to chopped onions served on Quarter Pounders.

In the days before Kamberlyn Bowler became ill, she went to McDonald’s several times for her favorite meal: a Quarter Pounder with cheese and extra pickles. The previously healthy, active 15-year-old is now in the hospital struggling with kidney failure – a rare and potentially life-threatening complication of E. coli poisoning.

Kamberlyn, from 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 PreventionAt least 75 people in 13 states have been infected with E. coli after fast-food meals. One person has died.

McDonald’s says so most likely source of the contamination Chopped onions were served on the Quarter Pounders. The restaurant giant has removed onions from its menu items. The onions’ distributor, California-based Taylor Farms, has said that while no specific ingredient has been confirmed as the source of the outbreak, there is Yellow onions “preemptively recalled” from Colorado plant that distributed products to foodservice customers.

In her first interview about her ordeal, Kamberlyn, a freshman in high school, wiped away tears as she summed up what the past few weeks have felt like: “Not fun,” she said Monday afternoon via Zoom from her hospital room.

Kamberlyn’s mother, Brittany Randall, said her daughter’s symptoms started this month with fever and stomach pain. Neither Kamberlyn nor Randall were too concerned at first.

“We both thought I just had a fever, a flu or something – a stomach flu,” Kamberlyn said. “But then I started vomiting, had diarrhea and it was bloody, so it scared me.”

Randall took Kamberlyn to the doctor and then to the emergency room for a few scans, which showed nothing significant, she said. But at home, Kamberlyn did not get better.

“I think it was day six that she said, ‘Something’s not right. I don’t feel well. I have 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 had kidney failure. On October 18, she was airlifted to Children’s Hospital Colorado outside Denver, where she has remained since.

“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,” said Randall.

Kamberlyn has been diagnosed with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS – which can develop when E. coli bacteria attack the kidneys. She has undergone several rounds of dialysis in the hospital.

Randall said her daughter’s kidneys are showing “some signs” of functioning again, but it’s not clear what the extent of the permanent damage will be.

“We’re not really sure what it’s going to look like for her in the future,” she said, adding, “She’ll probably have to do another round of dialysis. We hope it’s the latter, but we don’t know either, and we don’t know if there will be any problems in the future.

Kamberlyn and Randall plan to sue McDonald’s and have hired an attorney who has already filed two lawsuits on behalf of other clients. But for now, they’re focusing on Kamberlyn’s recovery.

Symptoms for most people infected with E. coli usually begin three to four days after consuming contaminated food, and include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting. According to the CDC. Most infected people recover within a week without treatment.

But for a very small percentage of patients, estimates of the number of patients vary calculate it as low as 2% – continue developing HUS.

People who are very young or very old are most susceptible to HUS, said Dr. Nicole Iovine, chief epidemiologist at UF Health Shands Hospital in Florida, who does not treat Kamberlyn.

“It’s a rare complication, but it’s certainly something that can happen. Unfortunately, some people end up with reduced kidney function or permanent kidney failure,” she said.

Before she contracted E. coli, Kamberlyn had no underlying health conditions, and she exercised and played softball regularly — all factors that should help her as she tries to get better from HUS, Iovine said.

“It’s not predictable and the patient’s pre-existing health is very important,” she said.

The experience was terrifying for Randall, who said he was grateful that Kamberlyn recognized that something was very wrong.

“If she had waited, if I had waited longer, she wouldn’t be here right now,” Randall said. “She went from being super healthy and without any problems to possibly having kidney damage for the rest of her life.”

McDonald’s said in an email that hearing reports like Kamberlyn’s “are devastating to us.”

“We know that people and families have been significantly impacted, and the well-being of our customers is of great importance to us,” the email said.

In a video posted Sunday, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger said promised to regain customers’ trust.

“On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I want you to hear from me: we are sorry,” he said in a video posted Sunday. “To the customers involved, you have my commitment that, guided by our values, we will make 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 will be many more cases than 75 in this outbreak,” he said, referring to the CDC’s latest case count. “Much more, without a doubt.”

Simon said he plans to file the lawsuit against Kamberlyn this week. Of the people he represents, he said, nine have been hospitalized and one other has contracted HUS.

“We hope that through this and other lawsuits we can find out exactly where the fault was so we can fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” he said.