Colorado teen suffering from kidney failure after eating McDonald's quarter pounders, lawyer says
A lawyer representing 37 people impacted by McDonald's E.coli outbreak as a result of eating quarter pounders has shared the dire health impacts a 15-year-old Colorado girl experienced as a result of her fast-food choices.
Kamberlyn Bowler of Grand Junction "ate a Quarter Pounder with extra pickles on at least two occasions at the end of September and early October," a press release from Ron Simon & Associates provided to Fox News Digital states. The consumption of the burgers led to her suffering from kidney failure and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the law firm alleges.
Bowler first became ill with a gastrointestinal illness involving diarrhea and "intense abdomen and kidney pain," on Oct. 8, her legal representation says.
"I couldn’t get out of bed," Bowler told The Associated Press. "I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t drink. I was surviving on Popsicles. I felt like crap."
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Bowler was admitted to a hospital three days later, where she developed HUS, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is a "very serious complication of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infection."
On Oct. 17, the high school freshman had to be flown 250 miles to a hospital near Denver, where she received dialysis for 10 days in an urgent effort to save her kidneys.
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A Monday update from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, shared by McDonald's, ruled out beef as the source of the E. coli outbreak.
The Food and Drug Administration is in the midst of investigating whether Taylor Farms, which supplied slivered onions to McDonald's in the areas where the E. coli outbreak occurred, is the source of the contamination. Fox News Digital reached out to Taylor Farms for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
McDonald's said it has stopped sourcing onions from them indefinitely.
The company has told its beef suppliers to resume making the fresh patties and expects quarter pounders to be available again at all stores over the coming week.
However, slivered onions will still not yet be available as a topping in the locations impacted by the outbreak.
In a video shared by the fast-food giant on Sunday, McDonald's U.S. President Joe Erlinger addressed customers who are impacted.
"I also want to address customers who ate at McDonald’s and are feeling any number of things: ill, scared, or uncertain," he said. "I know that our relationship is built on trust. You trust us to serve you safe food every time. On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I want you to hear from me: we are sorry. For those customers affected, you have my commitment that, led by our values: we will make this right."
As of Oct. 25, the outbreak has resulted in 75 cases across 13 states, according to the Center for Disease and Control's latest figures. There have been 22 hospitalizations and one death.
"The hospital bills are racking up," Bowler's mother, Brittany Randall, told the AP after being asked about her daughter's future health and medical costs. "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."
Fox News' Daniella Genovese, Breck Dumas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.