Although nearly 500 miles apart as the crow flies, the two regions share a notorious history of sickening consumers with a particularly lethal strain of Escherichia coli – O157:H7 – known to strike, and sometimes kill, the most vulnerable among us – children, elderly, and the immunocompromised.
As Salinas winds down its 4-month growing season every Fall, Yuma’s is just beginning—causing a shift of the same seasonal workers from one region to the other, until the process repeats itself yet again the following spring.
This could be explained by the strain’s Stx2a toxin subtype, which produces more virulent toxins than other types.
Within a few days, Makayla was admitted to an Arizona hospital with symptoms of bloody diarrhea and rapidly falling platelets, the component of our blood that allows it to clot and stop us from bleeding to death.
She developed high blood pressure, some that can happen when the kidneys are damaged by HUS, and she had to be put on long-term blood pressure medication that she remains on still.
He is now a young child and no longer a toddler, but his life is forever changed and will never be normal.
However, on the road trip back to Canada over the next couple of days, the family did not quite make it back home before they were forced to stop in a hospital in Washington state so Lucas could be seen in the ER.
Within a day after getting there, Lucas was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, summoned by his worried parents when the otherwise playful and happy little boy grew increasingly lethargic, began vomiting, and had more bloody diarrhea.
Then the worst possible thing happened—Lucas’ suddenly deteriorated neurologically and developed seizures and “posturing,” a visible arching of the back and stiffening of the body that signals severe brain damage.
Over the next few days, Lucas’ brain damage worsened, which the doctors knew because of more imaging , as well as continuous electroencephalograms, which measure the electrical activity of the brain.
He was still breathing with the help of the mechanical ventilator, and after two weeks in the PICU, he opened his eyes but did not make eye contact or exhibit any purposeful movements.
Before moving Lucas to palliative care, a PEG tube was operatively inserted into his abdomen so he could be fed without having to use IV nutrition.
After a brief return to the hospital when an error in his contracture medication caused a decrease in his heart rate and breathing, Lucas was returned to and stabilized at the palliative care facility and was watched by neurology specialists for signs of improvement, but none occurred.
Although his dad sees improvement in his cognition on a day to day basis, Lucas does not have “cognitive ability” in ways the permit him to communicate his needs or participate in his life in any meaningful, volitional way.