There has been one death in the serious E. coli outbreak at McDonald’s, affecting more people in Colorado than any other state. That victim – JC Smith, 88 – lived in Grand Junction, and his family there says they are heartbroken.
“All he wanted to do was enjoy a hamburger with his wife. He put his trust in these restaurants, and all we really want is our dad back,” said his daughter Debbie Bonnell.
Smith family
The outbreak has ended linked to onions used on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder sandwiches. Investigators believe the onions came from Taylor Farms’ distribution facility in Colorado Springs. Those onions were pulled from affected McDonald’s locations, and Taylor Farms recalled yellow cut onions sent to other foodservice companies.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
There have been 90 cases reported in 13 states, and Colorado had 26 people reporting the illness traced back to this outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most people recover of E.colibut some people have seen it serious complications. That was – initially – the case for Smith, whose full name was James Charles Smith.
Smith was a frequent McDonald’s customer
JC Smith and his wife Doris often dined out in western Colorado and regularly visited the same McDonald’s not far from their home. They ordered the same meal every time: a Quarter Pounder.
According to Bonnell, after a visit in early October, he became very ill and was hospitalized.
After four days there he was released. The doctors said laboratory tests showed it was a case of E. coli. Before leaving, he did an interview with the Mesa County Health Department.
“(The health department worker) asked, ‘Where did my parents eat?’ because there was some kind of outbreak,” Bonnell said. “But they wouldn’t say where yet.”
Sometime after that hospitalization, Smith went back to McDonald’s and got another Quarter Pounder. This time, when he developed symptoms again and went to the hospital, he died. His death occurred on October 20.
Smith was likely one of the first people diagnosed with a positive case of E. coli during the national outbreak.
A strong, loving man
Bonnell says her father was a Navy veteran and life didn’t slow down.
“Before he got sick, he just wanted to do things, even though they told me his feet can’t move very well,” she said.
Smith family
He grew up in Mississippi and worked as a firefighter and later as a postal worker. The couple moved to Colorado in the 1980s. In Colorado, he was a small business owner and then maintenance manager at Vail Run Resort. He returned south for a while, but then moved back to Mesa County.
This year was JC and Doris’ 70th wedding anniversary. They still went on trips together and enjoyed playing with their great-grandchildren.
“Overall, my father was a loving person. He was compassionate. If he had to be strict, you didn’t want to be on that side,” Bonnell said.
He had the onions, she didn’t
While Smith and his wife always ate Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s, Doris is not a fan of onions.
“I took mine off and gave mine to him,” Doris said. “I feel guilty now because I gave him some onions.”
Doris says she called her daughter on October 3 to let her know that the normally strong JC had suddenly become weak.
‘Your father is very dizzy and he doesn’t want to get out of bed. He’s afraid he’s going to fall,” she said, recalling the phone conversation.
Bonnell said she immediately went to her parents’ house.
“My mother had been up all night. He had been in the bathroom all night and had bloody diarrhea and he was so weak,” she said. “When I got here, he was so weak he couldn’t walk.”
After the four days in the hospital, the family didn’t know there was a specific restaurant to avoid.
“She didn’t tell me (for us) that we couldn’t go out to eat anymore,” Doris said, referring to the doctor’s orders.
When JC got sick again after eating at McDonald’s, this time it was much worse.
“We watched my father in excruciating pain for days, throwing his arms and legs around. It was very difficult,” Bonnell said. “I would hold his hand and pray and tell him to try to rest: ‘We are here with you’ and ‘We are getting help for you.'”
Two days after JC’s death, health officials reported the outbreak to the public.
They share their story out of concern
Bonnell said she had no intention of “letting my dad go this way.”
“We still had a lot of plans,” she says.
Smith’s grandson Jim says his family is angry and wondering if more could have been done to save their beloved family member. But the reason they decided to speak publicly about what happened was because they were concerned about the health of others.
“When you’re in that kind of work… and you lose a level of concern or become complacent, then accidents happen. Then you’re held accountable. And when you’re talking about taking people’s loved ones and changing their lives permanently Others need to know,” he said.
The Smiths have not filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s or anyone else at this time. Right now they say all they want is the man they loved.
