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Woman, 24, who beat cancer twice is left fighting for her life after eating friend's homemade food
A 24-year-old Arizona woman who survived cancer twice as a child has been left fighting for her life after contracting a rare illness linked to homemade food.
Trinity Peterson-Mayes became seriously ill after trying her friend’s homemade fermented swordfish alongside five other friends last month.
What initially seemed like a harmless meal quickly turned into a medical emergency that left her temporarily paralyzed and unable to speak or move.
Doctors later diagnosed her with botulism, a rare but potentially deadly illness that attacks the nervous system and can lead to muscle paralysis and breathing difficulties, per the Cleveland Clinic.
From cancer survivor to sudden medical crisis
Trinity has already faced major health battles in her life. She was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer, when she was just two months old. After undergoing treatment, she survived the disease.
Years later, at 11 years old, she was diagnosed again, this time with osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer. Once again, she fought through treatment and beat cancer.
Last month, she tried a home-cooked meal prepared by a friend. Although the taste immediately raised concerns, she initially brushed it off.
"It tasted horrible, I’m going to be so honest," she said, per PEOPLE. "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."
But within days, she began noticing alarming symptoms. "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 explained.
After completely choking on a sip of coffee, Trinity decided to go to the hospital.
Terrifying diagnosis and sudden paralysis
At first, doctors struggled to understand what was wrong with her, and the first hospital she visited nearly sent her home.
After being transferred to St. Joseph's Medical Center and Barrow Neurological Institute for specialized neurological care, doctors identified the cause as botulism.
"I woke up and I had three IVs," Trinity said. "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."
Emergency physician Dr. Frank LoVecchio said botulism is so uncommon that many doctors never encounter a case. "Most emergency physicians go their whole career without seeing a case," he said.
"It causes this paralysis of your muscles, and most important being, you know, your chest muscles, those that are responsible for breathing," he explained. "In the United States, there's about two dozen cases per year on average of food botulism."
Of the five friends who ate the fermented swordfish with Trinity, two also developed botulism.
While they have since been released from the hospital, the 24-year-old remains hospitalized but expects to be discharged in the coming days.
Trinity's family has created a GoFundMe to help cover medical costs and recovery expenses. As of the time of writing, it has raised $7,230.
The funds will help pay for medical bills and hospital care, rent and basic living expenses while she cannot work, rehabilitation and therapy needed for recovery, and ongoing medical treatments.
Her mother, Loren Amatruda, shared an emotional message on the fundraiser page, writing: "After everything she had been through as a child, we believed the hardest battles were behind her. But recently, our family was faced with a terrifying and completely unexpected medical emergency."
Amatruda penned that her daughter's recovery from the illness could 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 continued. "She is already fighting hard every day to regain the basic abilities most of us take for granted - speaking, swallowing and moving normally again."