An 11-year-old girl nearly died after developing a life-threatening E. coli illness following a meal at a “dirty” Wendy’s restaurant in Michigan.
Aspen Lamfers enjoyed a burger, chicken nuggets and fries at Wendy’s in Jenison after softball practice on August 1, 2022.
But just three days later he fell ill and was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, which develops from E. coli and can be fatal.
The young woman suffered brain, kidney and pancreas damage and was hospitalized for more than four weeks where she had seizures, paralysis on the left side and required dialysis.
His family recently filed a lawsuit against Meritage Hospitality Group, owner of Wendy’s, on April 1, seeking $20 million in damages, as the restaurant Lamfers ate at was found to have significant Food Law violations. from Michigan that summer.
An 11-year-old girl nearly died after developing a life-threatening illness from E. coli following a meal at a “dirty” Wendy’s restaurant in Michigan.
Aspen Lamfers suffered brain, kidney and pancreas damage and was hospitalized for more than four weeks where she had seizures, left-sided paralysis and required dialysis.
His family filed a lawsuit against Meritage Hospitality Group, which owns Wendy’s, on April 1, seeking $20 million in damages after the restaurant where Lamfers ate was found to have significant violations of the Food Law. Michigan that summer.
Lamfers felt sick and had symptoms including nausea, diarrhea and fever, which are common with E. coli, three days after eating at Wendy’s.
She was then taken to the hospital on August 7, 2022 and taken to a pediatric intensive care unit at Corewell Health’s Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.
The young woman then needed dialysis treatment as her kidneys were in stage 3 failure and the infection attacked her pancreas, meaning she needed an insulin drip.
Lamfers then suffered brain damage that caused paralysis on his left side, affected his vision and caused hallucinations.
Her condition only began to improve after two weeks and she was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital on September 1 before being allowed to return home on September 9.
He then continued with physical, speech, occupational and language therapy. Her family has filed a lawsuit against the restaurant company and seeks to recover medical expenses.
“As a result of her STEC infection, Aspen has suffered permanent injuries and life-changing medical conditions,” the legal document states.
They are estimated to have used $500,000 for past medical bills, will incur $1.6 million in future medical expenses, and will lose about $5 million in future earning capacity.
The family’s lawyer, Thomas Worsfold, said medical staff “almost found it was a miracle that she survived.”
‘She was so close to dying. “Her parents try to balance being grateful that Aspen is doing as well as she is now, with all the challenges she still faces,” he said. mlive.com.
“If you look at the health department reports and just the food safety and hygiene practices of the employees at that restaurant, there is almost certainly going to be cross contamination.”
He said Meritage did not want to settle the case before litigation and now has 28 days to respond to the lawsuit.
The Wendy’s restaurant Lamfers visited had received two poor health inspections that found significant violations of the Michigan Food Law that same summer.
Moldy and spoiled food, poor hand hygiene, food stored at unsafe temperatures and a dirty warehouse were found to be “on the excessive end of the spectrum,” according to Ottawa County health records.
The July 27, 2022 inspection found 17 food and health code violations against the restaurant, including a disinfectant solution too diluted to be effective, undated products and dirty cutting boards from the previous day.
“Due to excessive violations, employees are not trained to complete food safety-related tasks, such as marking the date, washing/rinsing/sanitizing food contact surfaces, and disposing of food that is no longer safe and adulterated,” the report states. report.
Lamfers felt sick and had symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea and fever (which are common with E. coli) three days after eating at Wendy’s.
The Wendy’s restaurant Lamfers visited had received two poor health inspections that found significant violations of the Michigan Food Law that same summer.
“Cleaning is not performed at the property at a frequency that ensures cleanliness for staff and guests.”
The restaurant was temporarily closed to retrain staff on food and safety and address issues highlighted in the report.
It then reopened on August 1 and served clients such as Lamfers and the University of Michigan Health West Hospital reportedly reported an increase in E. coli hospitalizations.
The Lamfers family’s lawsuit claims the hospital found a link between the infections and the Wendy’s restaurant.
The subsequent health inspection at the store found 12 more violations, including inadequate hand washing, staff not changing gloves after contamination and raw meat stored at potentially dangerous temperatures.
“After being warned, they completely ignored it and went about their normal business and that’s what made Aspen sick,” attorney Worsfold said.
‘My heart just breaks for Aspen and her parents.
“This is permanent brain damage and she’s coping with it and dealing with it, but it’s just the loss of potential – it’s heartbreaking and devastating.”
The Wendy’s store in Jenison has improved significantly in its latest review with only two violations being corrected on-site.
There are five lawsuits in Michigan against Meritage related to an E. coli illness in the summer of 2022 due to lettuce.
A company spokesperson said: ‘We take the health and safety of our customers very seriously.
‘We deny any irregularity or failure in our food safety practices in these cases. “We cannot comment further in light of the ongoing litigation.”
DailyMail.com has contacted Meritage for comment.