Man shares horrific experience with wife (64) who died after visiting sushi restaurant: “I can no longer bear the pain”

Jon and Donna met in 1987 and married in 1999, working together at Los Alamos National Laboratory for almost seventeen years. They have been married for more than 24 years when they had lunch with friends at Dave’s Sushi in the American state of Montana on April 17 last year. Donna eats a special sushi roll with the Chinese raw morel mushroom. Raw morels are poisonous, you must heat them thoroughly before eating them. It contains the substance hydrazine and that can make you very ill.

An hour after eating the sushi, Donna gets sick. “I called 911 and she was taken to hospital in an ambulance. Once in the hospital she went into cardiac arrest,” says Jon. Donna spent twelve days in the intensive care unit. “The toxins from the morels have destroyed her kidneys and liver and damaged her esophagus and trachea. Her skin was tight due to the fluid accumulation in her body, Donna was in enormous pain in her last days.”

“In addition to the pain, she was also extremely frustrated because she couldn’t talk,” says Jon. “She was given a red marker to communicate with us.” And according to the family, those messages are heartbreaking. “She wrote: ‘I don’t know how long I can keep this up’ and ‘I can’t bear the pain anymore’. But also ‘I love you’ for me and my son.”

Died twelve days later

Donna refused a tube, although Jon had his doubts about it, he agreed. “When you’ve been together for so long, you understand your partner’s body language and looks,” Jon tells KBZK. “The third or fourth time I spoke to her, I got a look that said, ‘I’ve made my decision, I don’t want to talk about it anymore’.”

Donna died after an illness of twelve days on April 29, she was 64 years old. “I told my wife on her deathbed that I hold the perpetrators responsible for what they did to her,” Jon said.

Dave’s Sushi

That’s why Donna’s husband is suing Dave’s Sushi in Bozeman for wrongful death. According to Jon, the sushi shop has a history of violations with the Gallatin County Health Department. “They take no responsibility for the pain they have caused not only me and my son, but everyone who has been a victim of their horrific actions,” Jon said. In addition to Donna, there was another fatality and another 51 people became ill from eating the morels in the business. Dave’s Sushi was closed by the health inspectorate after this outbreak.

Now, almost a year later, the restaurant is reopening its doors. And that gets a lot of criticism. Dave’s Sushi does not respond to claims from local residents that they have not taken responsibility for the sick and dead. “Because there is an ongoing lawsuit, we have been advised not to comment on this case,” the business told local news channel MTN News. “We have been completely transparent since the start of the research, including about how we prepared the morels. These documents are available for public inspection.”

Research

Following the outbreak in Montana, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched an investigation into the morel mushroom. According to the FDA, the mushroom contains toxins that can be reduced with the correct preparation method. But despite this, little is known about all the risks of the mushroom.

The now completed investigation has shown that the outbreak was limited to Montana. It also emerged that the mushrooms served at Dave’s Sushi were served raw or improperly prepared. The mushroom is still considered safe to consume with the correct preparation method.

If Jon receives compensation after the lawsuit, he wants to use this money to establish a scholarship for the University of Montana in Donna’s honor.