Posted: February 23rd, 2010 - 12:14pm by Doug Powell

Erin Stadler was at her baby shower when she at a piece of brie cheese that was contaminated with Listeria. The disease made Stadler and her unborn child deathly ill.

"You don't think about eating one piece of cheese and almost dying. That's basically, what happened for both of us," said Stadler.

The disease came as a surprise to Stadler in 1997 because up until her baby shower, she had a normal, healthy pregnancy. However, shortly after the party, she began to feel the symptoms of the disease.

When Stadler went to the hospital, doctors immediately delivered baby Allison. She was premature at 33 weeks and weighed just 4 pounds, 33 ounces. Allison was in the hospital for two more weeks for additional tests when doctors realized how ill both Erin and Allison were.

Stadler will be traveling to Washington D.C. next week to talk with senators about passing tougher food regulations. Allison, now a healthy 13-years-old girl will travel to Washington with her mom to discuss a proposed bill called S-510.