A Massachusetts mother and her son are recovering from a near-death experience after they both ingested highly toxic “death cap” mushrooms they had foraged for dinner.
Amherst woman Kam Look, 63, and son Kai Chen, 27, were outside gathering mushrooms similar to ones they would find in Malaysia to cook with, UMass Memorial Medical Center said in a news release.
Both started feeling sick during dinner and were reportedly able to drive themselves to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
At the hospital, medical professionals realized the two were going to require a high level of intervention and transported them to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
Tom May, a principal research scientist in mycology at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, inspects a Death Cap mushroom, which is extremely toxic and responsible for 90% of all mushroom poisoning deaths.
(Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
According to Boston 25 News, the mom and the son were experiencing “severe, life-threatening” liver damage from the incident. The hospital said the death rate for the type of liver injury the two sustained is between 30% and 50%.
A toxicology expert reportedly identified the mushroom poisoning and wasted no time in having an investigational new drug flown in from Philadelphia. Toxicology experts from across the U.S. then consulted with UMass employees and gave advice on how to save the mother and son.
A few days later, Chen had improved enough to be released from the hospital, but Look needed a “more dramatic intervention” and was placed on the transplant list in search of a new liver.
Within days, Look was matched to a liver, and a “high-stakes” surgery was performed.
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A Google Earth image shows the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass.
(Google Earth)
After the surgery, Look remained intubated in the ICU, where she was monitored by transplant caregivers who worked to keep her stable. She eventually moved to an acute care floor and then a rehab facility before getting approval to return home.
Look, Chen and the clinical team are scheduled to meet at the hospital Thursday to share a “major message” of caution about mushrooms.
FILE – A photo of a death cap mushroom taken in 1997.
(Associated Press)
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UMass health officials said that mushroom poisoning is part of a larger concerning trend where people scour the Internet for mushrooms and identify them not only to eat but for a psychedelic experience.
