Colo. Teen, 15, Battling Kidney Failure After Reportedly Eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounders amid E. Coli Outbreak

A Colo. teen says she has been battling a rare complication from E. coli poisoning in the hospital after she reportedly ate a McDonald's Quarter Pounder amid the outbreak of the bacterial infection linked to the burgers.

Kamberlyn Bowler, 15, told NBC News she is fighting kidney failure after being diagnosed with a bacterial infection called enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, which is one of the rare symptoms associated with an E. coli infection and arises when harmful E. coli attack the kidneys, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to an update from the CDC on Friday, Oct. 25, of the 22 people who have been hospitalized in relation to the outbreak, one is a "child with complications of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)."

"Of 42 people interviewed, all 42 reported eating at McDonald's before their illness started, and most specifically mentioned eating a Quarter Pounder hamburger. No other retail chains or retailers have been identified as a source of illness," the CDC added.

Bowler claimed she began feeling unwell after she went to McDonald’s several times and ordered her favorite meal: a Quarter Pounder with extra cheese and pickles. In the days after, she began experiencing symptoms including a fever and stomach pain, prompting her mother Brittany Randall to take her to the hospital. 

“We both kind of thought I just had a fever, like just the flu or something — a stomach bug,” Bowler told NBC News in an interview published Tuesday, Oct. 29. “But then I started throwing up, having diarrhea, and it was bloody, so it scared me.”

Initial tests from the hospital didn’t show anything significant so the pair went home, but the symptoms didn’t stop. Randall recalled that her daughter said about six days later that she felt “something’s not right” and she needed to “go back to the hospital.”

This time hospital scans showed that the teen had been in renal failure due to a severe E. coli infection and she was immediately airlifted to the Children’s Hospital Colorado outside Denver for treatment including multiple rounds of dialysis.

“If she would have waited, if I would have waited longer, she could not be here right now,” Randall said. “She went from being super healthy and no issues at all to possibly kidney damage for her whole life.”

Randall noted that her daughter likely has “another round of dialysis” in the upcoming days, but the future is uncertain for the teen. and doctors don’t know if “there’s going to be future issues” with her body.

"Hearing reports like this is devastating to us," a McDonald's spokesperson told PEOPLE when contacted about Bowler. "We know that people and families have been significantly impacted, and the well-being of our customers is deeply important to us."

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According to Bowler's attorney, Ron Simon of Ron Simon & Associates, she plans to file a lawsuit against McDonald's.

"We are working with Kamberlyn’s family to make sure she receives the very best medical treatment and advice," Simon said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, adding that Bowler's illness is "tragic." "Our team will continue to seek justice for those who have suffered from this outbreak. We can and will find out how this happened so that we can prevent it from happening again," he added.

On Oct. 27, McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger issued a response to customers in a video, apologizing and promising to work to regain their trust after the E. coli outbreak.

"I also want to address customers who ate at McDonald’s and are feeling any number of things: ill, scared, or uncertain. I know that our relationship is built on trust. You trust us to serve you safe food every time," he said. "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."

According to the CDC, as of Oct. 25, at least 75 people have been infected in relation to the outbreak. One person has died and 22 have been hospitalized in 13 states since the first case was reported.

The CDC announced on Oct. 22 that it was investigating 49 illnesses linked to "slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers."

Following the news, Taylor Farms issued a recall on its peeled, diced and whole peeled yellow onion packs “due to potential E. coli contamination" and customers were urged to “stop using affected” products “as soon as possible.”

In a statement shared on Oct. 27, McDonald's North America Chief Supply Chain Officer Cesar Piña said the 900 McDonald's restaurants that received slivered onions from the Taylor Farms’ Colorado Springs facility will resume serving the burgers without slivered onion after the beef patties were ruled out as the source of the outbreak.

The restaurants are in the states of Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, as well as portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.