Donna Ventura, 64, pictured with her son and husband, died after eating a sushi roll filled with uncooked morel mushrooms in the US last April.
Donna Ventura, 64, pictured with her son and husband, died after eating a sushi roll filled with uncooked morel mushrooms in the US last April.
A US woman suffered an excruciating death when she became unwell after eating poisonous mushrooms from China at a sushi restaurant.
Donna Ventura fell ill with food poisoning just an hour after eating a sushi roll with salmon and morel mushroom at Dave’s Sushi in Montana last April.
For two weeks she battled to stay alive in intensive care, but the poison from the mushrooms slowly destroyed her liver and kidneys.
The illness damaged her throat so severely she was unable to speak. Instead, she had to communicate with her family using a red marker on pieces of paper.
According to her husband, she was in “enormous pain” and “her skin was tight, fluids were building up in her system”.
Donna Ventura spent two weeks in intensive care before dying.
As the end drew near, she scribbled her heartbreaking final message to family before passing away on April 29 last year.
Among her final words were: “I’m not sure I can go on much longer, how are we going to manage, I can’t stand the pain,” her husband, Jon Ventura told US media outlet KBZK.
“The last couple she wrote were to me and our son where she wrote, ‘I love you’, and to our son, she wrote, ‘I love you, Mr. C’.”
Donna Ventura's throat became so severely impacted she couldn't talk and had to communicate by writing on a piece of paper.
At least 51 people became ill after eating at the restaurant a year ago and two people died as a result of the mushrooms, which caused gastrointestinal illness.
While morel mushrooms are generally considered edible, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned they need to be fully cooked to prevent potential toxic effects.
As his wife was dying, Ventura vowed to “hold those accountable for what they’ve done to her”.
After the investigation, Ventura slapped the restaurant with a wrongful death lawsuit.
The sushi restaurant closed down after the poisoning outbreak but reopened a month later.
Kiwi woman died after ingesting ‘mushroom’ drink at health retreat
A woman who died shortly after drinking a suspected poisoned mushroom beverage at a wellness centre in Australia has been revealed to be a New Zealander.
Rachael Dixon, a myotherapist from New Zealand who was working in Melbourne, died after ingesting what is suspected to have been a poisonous mushroom drink. Photo / Supplied
Emergency services were called to the wellness centre shortly before midnight after reports a person had become unwell after consuming a drink.
It is understood the 53-year-old went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived. Two other people who were at the centre at the same time were rushed to hospital. They were discharged yesterday, according to local media.
Officers investigating the death are examining whether the drink Dixon took contained mushrooms, the Age newspaper reported.
Her son Matthew took to Facebook to pay tribute to his mother, whom he described as a supportive mum.
“To the most loving, most caring person I’ve ever known. Can’t thank you enough for everything you did for me and all the support you gave me,” he wrote.
“Words can’t begin to describe how much I will miss you. Wish I could give you one last hug. Love you infinity, Mum.”
Erin Patterson, the Australian woman who cooked the mushroom meal that killed three people, says she is being painted as an "evil witch" by the media.
