A cancer survivor's life is in danger once more after she shared a homemade meal with friends and contracted a rare, life-threatening disease.
Trinity Peterson-Mayes, 24, was first diagnosed with cancer at the age of just 2 months old.
After getting through that traumatic time, she as once again diagnosed at the age of 11, this time with an aggressive form of bone cancer.
Back in February, Trinity shared a meal with friends consisting of fermented swordfish, before things took a turn for the worse and she contracted the terrifying condition.
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She told a local news outlet, KPNX, that the unusual dish wasn't worth what came next: “It tasted horrible, I’m going to be so honest. It's supposed to be healthy and I figured I might as well try, if it's bad and I'll just get a bad stomach ache.”
Unfortunately, it was a lot worse than that, and soon Trinity wasn't able to drink without choking.
"Slowly, over the course of 24 hours, I went from not being able to chug water to not being able to drink any water at all,” she recalled.
Trinity attended a local hospital after the choking worsened, but the first one nearly sent her home as they couldn't give a firm diagnosis.
Fortunately she was soon diagnosed with the shockingly rare condition: botulism.
According to the NHS, botulism can make you very unwell and needs immediate treatment in hospital, while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is caused by 'a toxin that attacks the body’s nerves and causes difficulty breathing, muscle paralysis and even death.'
Trinity was quickly transferred to St. Joseph's Medical Center and Barrow Neurological Institute for treatment.
She recalled: “I woke up and I had three IVs, I was intubated, I had a central line in my neck, and I had an NG [nasogastric] tube… and I just woke up and I couldn't move at all. It was very scary. I wasn't able to talk before. I wasn't able to walk.”
One expert, Dr. Frank LoVecchio told KPNX: “It causes this paralysis of your muscles, and most important being, you know, your chest muscles, those that are responsible for breathing."
In fact, it's so rare that 'in the United States, there's about two dozen cases per year on average of food botulism.'
Two of Trinity's other friends also contracted botulism.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Trinity recover, as she has a long path ahead of her.
Her mom, Loren Amatruda, wrote: “Recovery from botulism can take weeks to months, sometimes longer, and often requires extensive rehabilitation and therapy.”
“Even through all of this, Trinity continues to show the same strength and resilience that helped her survive cancer twice as a child, she is already fighting hard every day to regain the basic abilities most of us take for granted — speaking, swallowing and moving normally again.”
What are the symptoms of botulism?
According to the NHS, in adults botulism can present with the following symptoms:
- blurred or double vision
- drooping eyelids
- difficulty swallowing and speaking
- weak muscles, particularly in your face
- constipation
- dry mouth
It can take up to a year to recover.
Jen Thomas