Family of man who died in McDonald’s E. coli outbreak says “it was very hard”

There has been one death in the severe McDonald’s E. coli outbreak that affected 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,” his daughter Debbie Bonnell said.

The outbreak has been linked to onions used on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder sandwiches. Investigators believe those onions came from the Taylor Farms distribution facility in Colorado Springs. Those onions were pulled from affected McDonald’s locations and Taylor Farms recalled yellow slivered onions sent to other food service operators.

There have been 90 cases reported in 13 states, and Colorado had 26 people who reported the illness and had it traced back to this outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most people recover from E. coli, but some people have seen severe complications. That was the case — at first — for Smith, whose full name was James Charles Smith.

Smith was a frequent McDonald’s customers

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

After a late September visit he wound up very sick and in the hospital, according to Bonnell.

After four days there he was released. The doctors said lab tests showed it was a case of E. coli. His daughter did an interview with the Mesa County Health Department before leaving.

“(The health department worker) asked ‘Where did my parents eat?’ because there was some type of outbreak,” Bonnell said. “But they were not going to say where yet.”

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

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

A strong, loving man

Bonnell says her dad was a Marine veteran and wasn’t slowing down in life.

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

He grew up in Mississippi and worked as a firefighter and later on a postal service employee. The couple moved to Colorado in the 1980s. In Colorado he was a small business owner and then a maintenance manager at Vail Run Resort. He returned to the south for a stint but then moved back again to Mesa County.

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

“All and all, my dad was a loving person. He was compassionate. If he needed to be stern, you didn’t want to be on that side,” his son Jim Smith said.

He had the onions, she didn’t

While Smith and his wife always had Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s, Doris isn’t 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 on Oct. 3 she called her daughter to let her know the normally strong JC had suddenly become weak.

“Your daddy is very dizzy and he doesn’t want to 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 right away.

“My mother had been up all night. He had 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.”

Following the four days at the hospital, the family wasn’t aware that there was any specific restaurant they should avoid.

“She didn’t tell me (for us) not to go out to eat anymore,” said Doris, referring to the health officials.

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

“We watched my daddy have excruciating pain for many days — thrashing his arms and legs around. It was very hard,” Bonnell said. “I would hold his hand and pray and tell him to try and 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.

Sharing their story out of concern

Jim Smith said he wasn’t planning on “my dad going this way.”

“We still had lots of plans,” he said.

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

“If you are out there in that line of work … and you lose a level of concern or become complacent, accidents happen. Then you’re going to be held accountable. And when you talk about taking people’s loves ones and changing their lives permanently, others need to know,” he said.

The Smiths at this point have not filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s or anyone involved. Right now they say all they want is the man they loved back.