In April 2024, Claudia de Albuquerque Celada was paralyzed after consuming canned soup contaminated with the bacteria C botulinum. These toxins attack the nervous system and can result in paralysis and fighting for her life, her family said.
23-year-old Celada, originally from Brazil, was on a work exchange program n exchange program since November in Aspen when she started suffering dizziness, double vision, and trouble breathing.
Though fewer than five of every 100 people with botulism die, according to the CDC, it can cause lifelong disability and extreme physical therapy.
Albuquerque Celada has also been on a breathing aid at Swedish Medical Center in Denver ever since.
Her sister, Luísa Albuquerque, wrote on social media that the Denver hospital is paying for her flight home to Brazil via air ambulance.
“We think that recovery close to family and friends is much faster. Comparing the costs between staying here and returning to Brazil, the return is still cheaper,” her sister said.
Each day she spends in the hospital costs about $10,000, the family associate added.
“The travel insurance she had ran out a long time ago, and her hospital bills are only rising.”
Her sister said she started to feel sick and had to leave work early one day in February, telling Portugese outlet UOL, “She took a shower, had dinner and went to bed, but she had shortness of breath, blurred vision and dizziness.”
She had messaged her friends about the sickness and when they arrived the following morning her condition had worsened significantly.
“When they arrived, my sister was already much worse, she could barely breathe on her own and she had facial paralysis. Some other very weak muscles, weak arms, weak legs. She went to the hospital and, soon after, she was 100% paralyzed,” her sister said in Portuguese.
Her family said that they do not know where she contracted the infection, but that they believed to have been foodborne.
“Botulism was identified only 15 days after symptoms appeared, but it is not known which food was contaminated with the bacteria,” one family member wrote on social media, according to the newspaper.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines botulism as “a rare but serious illness caused by a toxin that attacks the body’s nerves.”
Symptoms usually start in the eyes, face, mouth and throat before spreading to other parts of the body.
It can also weaken the muscles involved in breathing, which can lead to difficulty breathing or even death.
Officials in Pitkin County later told the media the case is believed to be isolated, and that there is no risk to the public.
Before the Denver hospital said it would pay for her transport, Albuquerque Celada’s family had raised $200,000 to pay for the air ambulance.
A fundraiser set up by her family is now looking to pay the $500,000 she has incurred in hospital debt.