麻豆影视

Skip to main content

Colorado teen fights kidney failure after eating McDonald's Quarter Pounders

In this photo provided by Brittany Randall, Randall, left, and her daughter, Kamberlyn Bowler, pose for a selfie photo in Grand Junction, Colo., in the summer of 2024. (Brittany Randall via AP)
In this photo provided by Brittany Randall, Randall, left, and her daughter, Kamberlyn Bowler, pose for a selfie photo in Grand Junction, Colo., in the summer of 2024. (Brittany Randall via AP)
Share

A 15-year-old high school freshman is hospitalized with severe complications of food poisoning after eating McDonald鈥檚 Quarter Pounder hamburgers three times in the weeks before a deadly E. coli outbreak was detected.

Kamberlyn Bowler, of Grand Junction, Colorado, had to be flown 250 miles to a hospital near Denver in mid-October, where she received dialysis for 10 days in an urgent effort to save her kidneys.

She is one at least 75 people sickened and 22 hospitalized in the outbreak tentatively traced to contaminated onions. In Mesa County, where Kamberlyn lives, 11 people have fallen ill and one person died. Federal health officials have said that slivered onions used on the burgers are a likely source of the outbreak.

The ordeal left Kamberlyn鈥檚 mother, Brittany Randall, worried about her daughter鈥檚 health and shaken at the idea that a burger could potentially cause so much harm.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty scary to know that we put so much faith and trust that we鈥檙e going to be eating something that鈥檚 healthy and for it to be broken,鈥 said Randall.

She is moving to sue the fast-food chain after Kamberlyn was infected with the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria confirmed in the outbreak.

That bacteria produces a dangerous toxin that can cause a severe kidney disease complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, according to medical experts. Many children are hospitalized for weeks and some go on to require kidney transplants, said Dr. Myda Khalid, a kidney specialist at Riley Hospital for Children in Indiana who is not involved in Kamberlyn's care.

鈥淭ime is critical,鈥 Khalid said. 鈥淲e have to get through this window and we have to get through it with a lot of care,鈥 she said.

The condition can be fatal, but most children eventually recover, she said.

Kamberlyn said she ate McDonald鈥檚 Quarter Pounders with cheese, extra pickles -- and onions -- three times between Sept. 27 and Oct. 8. She said the burgers were easy to grab during a football halftime and while watching a school softball game.

She started feeling sick in the days after and experienced fever, vomiting, diarrhea and painful stomach cramps.

鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 get out of bed,鈥 she recalled. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 eat. I couldn鈥檛 drink. I was surviving on Popsicles. I felt like crap.鈥

Randall, who works as a jail guard, has three older children and thought that her young daughter might just have the flu. But when Kamberlyn texted to say she had blood in her stool and urine and was vomiting blood, Randall said she knew it was serious.

On Oct. 11, Kamberlyn went to a hospital in Grand Junction. Doctors said she likely had a stomach bug. She was sent home, with instructions to stay hydrated. By Oct. 17, she was feeling no better and returned to the emergency room. That time, tests showed Kamberlyn had acute kidney failure, her mother said. She was flown to Children鈥檚 Hospital Colorado in Aurora, near Denver, where she remained on Tuesday.

Randall said her daughter's future health 鈥 and medical costs 鈥 are uncertain.

鈥淭he hospital bills are racking up,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd 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."

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. 

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Henrickson was a 17-year-old girl from Squamish who went missing after a house party on Bowen Island, during the then unusually warm summer of 2009.

Nova Scotians 鈥 including the province鈥檚 top politicians 鈥 are continuing to express outrage after four people showed up at a Halloween dance dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes.

The Ontario government will give each taxpayer a $200 rebate. Premier Doug Ford made the announcement Tuesday and said the rebate will also extend to families with children, with an additional $200 per eligible child.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) has dismantled one of the 鈥榤ost elaborate encampments鈥 officers have ever seen.

Local Spotlight

Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.

Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.

New Brunswicker Jillea Godin鈥檚 elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.

A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.

Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.

He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.

A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.

Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.

A man who lost his life while trying to rescue people from floodwaters, and a 13-year-old boy who saved his family from a dog attack, are among the Nova Scotians who received a medal for bravery Tuesday.