E. Teen with coli struggles with kidney failure after eating McDonald's quarter pounder

In the days before Cumberlyn Bowler got sick, she went to McDonald's a few times for her favorite meal: a Quarter Pounder with cheese and extra pickles. A previously healthy, active 15-year-old is now hospitalized and battling kidney failure — e. A rare and potentially life-threatening complication of coli poisoning.

Cumberlin, of Grand Junction, Colorado, is one of dozens of people who said they became ill after eating the McDonald's Quarter Pounder. At least 75 people in 13 states have contracted E. coli after eating at the fast-food chain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One died.

McDonald's said the most likely source of contamination was the onion served in its Quarter Pounder. The restaurant giant has removed onions from its menu items. The onion distributor, California-based Taylor Farms, said that while no specific ingredient could be confirmed as the source of the outbreak, it had “preemptively recalled” yellow onions from a Colorado facility that distributed the product to food service customers.

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

Cumberlin's mother, Brittany Randall, said her daughter's symptoms began this month with fever and abdominal pain. Neither Cumberlin nor Randall were too worried at first.

“We both thought I had a fever, like the flu or something — a stomach bug,” Cumberlin said. “But then I started throwing up, had diarrhea, and it was bloody, so it scared me.”

Randall took Cumberlin to the doctor and then to the emergency room for some scans, which showed nothing significant, he said. But back home, Cumberlin did not fare well.

“I think it was day six that he said: 'Something's not right. i don't feel good I have to go back to the hospital,'' Randall said.

This time, tests show something alarming: Cumberlin's E. The coli infection was so severe that he suffered kidney failure. On October 18, he was airlifted to Children's Hospital Colorado outside of Denver, where he has remained ever since.

“It's definitely been a roller coaster from the time we've gotten here so far. Every day there are new tests or new things that pop up, or it's basically seeing his body not working right,” Randall said.

Cumberlin was diagnosed with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS — which is caused by E. It can occur when the coli bacteria invades the kidneys. He received multiple rounds of dialysis at the hospital.

Randall said her daughter's kidneys are showing “some signs” of working again but the extent of the long-term damage is unclear.

“We're not really sure what it's going to look like for him going forward,” he said, adding: “He'll probably need another dialysis. We're hoping that's the end, but we don't know either, and we don't know if there will be problems in the future.” .”

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

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

But a very small percentage of patients – estimates of how many vary, some put it as low as 2% – go on to develop 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 is not treating Cumberlin.

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

E. Before being diagnosed with Coley, Cumberlin had no underlying health conditions, and she exercised regularly and played softball — all factors that should help her as she tries to recover from HUS, Iovine said.

“It's unpredictable, and the patient's pre-existing health is really important,” he said.

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

“If he had waited, if I had waited any longer, he wouldn't be here right now,” Randall said. “He is very healthy and probably has no problems with kidney damage for the rest of his life.”

McDonald's said in an email that hearing reports like Cumberlin's is “devastating to us.”

“We know that people and families are significantly affected, 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 vowed to win back 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 affected, you have my promise that, guided by our values, we will fix this.”

Ron Simon, McDonald's in 10 states E. coli outbreak victim Cumberlin and the national food poisoning attorney representing 32 other victims, said he has received hundreds of calls since news of the outbreak broke.

“It's going to be a lot more cases in this outbreak than 75,” he said, referring to the latest case tally from the CDC. “More, without question.”

Simon said he plans to file Cumberlin's lawsuit this week. Of the people he represents, he said, nine were hospitalized, and another was diagnosed with HUS.

“We hope that through these cases and others we can find out exactly where the breakdown was so we can fix it and just make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else,” he said.