Trinity Peterson-Mayes has undergone immense challenges in her life. She is a two-time cancer survivor, but sadly, now, she is battling a life-threatening disease. That’s after eating a homemade meal at a friend’s house.
Tinity Peterson-Mayes from Arizona is a two-time cancer survivor. When she was only 2 months old, she was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer, and at 11, she got aggressive cancer. Luckily, the then-girl made it out alive and grew up. Now, at 24, Trinity is facing a horrifying disease once again.
She contracted a rare, life-threatening illness after eating a homemade meal with her friends. They tried homemade fermented swordfish, but shortly after, she felt something was wrong,
“It tasted horrible, I’m going to be so honest,” Trinity told local outlet KPNX. “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.”
Just days later, Trinity Peterson-Mayes had trouble chugging water without it going down the wrong pipe.
“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.
Woman, 24, battling life-threatening illness after eating friend’s homemade meal
When Triniy couldn’t even drink a sip of coffee without choking, the 24-year-old decided to rush to the hospital. At first, they almost sent her home as they couldn’t understand what was wrong.
However, shortly after, Trinity was diagnosed with botulism. Per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, botulism is a rare illness that is caused by “a toxin that attacks the body’s nerves and causes difficulty breathing, muscle paralysis and even death.”
Speaking with KPNX, emergency physician Dr. Frank LoVecchio said the illness is so rare that “most emergency physicians go their whole career without seeing a case.”
Trinity was transferred to St. Joseph’s Medical Center and Barrow Neurological Institute for specialized neurological care. She is now facing a long road to recovery.
“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.”
Created GoFundMe to help with costs
Her mother has started a GoFundMe to help pay medical bills, hospice care, rehabilitation, and therapy.
“The doctors told us something we never expected to hear — none of the neurologists treating Trinity have ever seen a case of botulism in person. They have only read about it in medical textbooks,” the GoFundMe reads.
“The life-saving antitoxin had to be rushed in from another state to stop the toxin from continuing to cause paralysis. Thankfully, Trinity received the antitoxin, which stops the toxin from progressing further. Now begins the long road to recovery. Because botulism blocks nerve function, her body must slowly rebuild new nerve connections before her muscles regain strength.”
“Even through all of this, Trinity continues to show the same strength and resilience that helped her survive cancer twice as a child. She is already fighting hard every day to regain the basic abilities most of us take for granted — speaking, swallowing, and moving normally again,” it concluded.
Thoughts and prayers go out to Trinity and her family.
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