Family of Colorado man who died after eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounders says he ‘put his trust in these restaurants’

There has been one death in the severe McDonald’s E. coli outbreak that affected several people in Colorado than any other state. That victim — JC Smith, 88 — lived in Grand Junction, and his family there says they are devastated.

“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.

The outbreak has been attached to onions used on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder sandwiches. Investigators believe these onions came from the Taylor Farms distribution facility in Colorado Springs. These onions were pulled from the affected McDonald’s locations, and Taylor Farms recalled yellow onions that were cut and sent to other food companies.

90 cases have been reported in 13 states, and Colorado had 26 people report the illness, tracing it back to this outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most people recover from E. colibut some people have seen serious complications. That was the case – at first – for Smith, whose full name was James Charles Smith.

Smith was a frequent McDonald’s customer

JC Smith and his wife Doris often went out to dinner in western Colorado, often visiting the same McDonald’s not far from their home. They ordered the same meal each time: a Quarter Pounder.

After a visit in early October, he ended up very ill and in the hospital, according to Bonnell.

After four days there, he was released. Doctors said lab tests showed it was a case of E. coli. He did an interview with the Mesa County Health Department before he left.

“(The health department employee) asked, ‘Where did my parents eat?’ because there was some kind of outbreak,” Bonnell said. “But they wouldn’t say where yet.”

Some time after that admission, Smith went back to McDonald’s and had another Quarter Pounder. This time, when he developed symptoms again and went to the hospital, he ended up dying. His death was on 20 Oct.

Smith was likely one of the first people identified as having a positive E. coli case in the nationwide outbreak.

A strong, loving man

Bonnell says her father was a Marine veteran and didn’t slow down in life.

“Before he got sick, he just wanted to go and do things, even though he told me his feet can’t move that well,” she said.

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 to the South for a stay, but then moved back again to Mesa County.

This year marked JC and Doris’ 70th year of marriage. They still went on trips together and enjoyed playing with their great-grandchildren.

“All in all, my dad was a loving person. He was compassionate. If he needed to be strict, you wouldn’t be on that side,” Bonnell said.

He had the onions, she didn’t

While Smith and his wife always had Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s, Doris is not a fan of onions.

“I took mine off and gave mine to him,” said Doris. “I feel guilty now because I gave him some onions.”

Doris says that on October 3 she called her daughter to tell her that the normally strong JC had suddenly become weak.

“Your dad is very dizzy and he won’t get out of bed. He’s afraid he might fall,” she said, recalling the phone conversation.

Bonnell said she went over to her parents’ house immediately.

“My mom had been up all night. He’d been in the bathroom all night and he had the 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 realize there was any particular restaurant to avoid.

“She didn’t tell me (for us) not to go out to eat anymore,” Doris said, referring to doctor’s orders.

When JC got sick again after eating at McDonald’s, this time it was much worse.

“We saw my father in excruciating pain for many days – he was flailing his arms and legs around. It was very hard,” Bonnell said. “I would hold his hand and pray and tell him to try to rest, ‘We are here with you’ and ‘We will get you help’.”

Two days after JC’s death, health officials reported the outbreak to the public.

Share their story of concern

Bonnell said she had no plans for “my father to go this way”.

“We still had a lot of plans,” she said.

Smith’s grandson Jim says his family is angry and questions whether 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 are concerned about the health of others.

“If you’re out there in that business … and you lose a level of concern or get complacent, accidents happen. Then you’re going to be 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 involved at this time. Right now, they say all they want is the man they loved back.