Alisha Lewis died in June 2010.

The 22-year-old spent her final week on Earth paying a matter-of-fact visit to a funeral home to pick out a casket, choosing the white lilies that would rest atop it, and setting aside the hoodie and sweatpants she'd wear as mourners said their last goodbyes.

It was abject fear that coursed through her mother's veins in early June 1990 when she raced to the Alberta Children's Hospital, her sick twin toddlers crying in their baby seats. The week before, she had stopped at a fast-food drive-thru and picked up fries and a cheeseburger, which she split in two and handed to her daughters in response to their pleading.

Valerie Fortney of the Calgary Herald (that’s in Canada) writes this morning that after being diagnosed with what was then called "hamburger disease" -- referred to today as E. coli infection-- Alisha and Aimee Lewis became little celebrities in the city.

The Herald ran stories and photos of their plight, and they were featured on several TV news broadcasts, mainly because the girls were said to have possibly contracted the disease from the fast-food establishment, although the Calgary medical examiner at that time expressed concern that the contamination might have occurred outside of the disease's normal incubation period.

Quickly, though, they slipped from the public eye. But the struggle had only just begun.

While Aimee quickly recovered, Alisha continued to suffer, and later went into complete renal, or kidney, failure.

When she was finally released from hospital six agonizing weeks later, her mother, Amanda Lewis, was told she'd suffered permanent kidney damage and might need a kidney transplant. "They first told me both of them might not make it," recalls Lewis, who not long after the crisis married her partner, Roger McLaren, who with their mom raised her two girls and boys, along with his two boys from a previous relationship.

Alisha later developed diabetic and autonomic neuropathy -- a nerve disorder that can cause intense pain -- and also had to have a feeding tube installed to keep nutrients in her body after being diagnosed with gastroparesis, a condition that affects the ability of the stomach to empty its contents.

Knowing all of her young life that she wasn't likely to live to see age 25, Alisha made the difficult decision at the end of 2009 to end treatment. "She was sick of hospitals," says Lewis, "and she was sick and tired of always being sick and tired." Alisha gave up the painful tube feed, and began eating food again, although she often wasn't strong enough to keep it in.

On June 8, 2010 -- almost 20 years to the exact day of her contracting E. coli-- Alisha died surrounded by her family, and cradled in the arms of her younger, by 12 minutes, twin sister. Thanks to accelerated osteoporosis and other life-threatening ailments, she was, says her mother, a young woman with the body of an 80-year-old.

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I don’t know what a Ring Pop is but the candy (right) probably shouldn’t contain metal.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is investigating after a Calgary boy found pieces of metal in two Ring Pops bought at an Ogden corner store.

Dean Anderson and his son Sloan, 11, stopped at the Bella Food Store on Ogden Rd. on Sunday to buy a Ring Pop candy.

“He took a lick on it and immediately flinched and said ‘ouch.’ We examined it and picked out a little piece of metal. It scratched his tongue.”

So he let his son go back to the store to get a second Ring Pop and when he opened it, found another piece of metal.

“It was jagged in shape, not like a pin.”

A spokeswoman for the CFIA confirmed Wednesday night the agency is looking into the matter.

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The Calgary Herald reports that the number of complaints lodged by customers against food establishments in the Calgary region has jumped by almost six per cent in three years.

Figures also show a nearly 40 per cent increase in the number of restaurants, bars and grocery stores closed for food violations — ranging from thawing meat to mouse droppings in the kitchen — during the same period.

Last year, health inspectors temporarily closed 93 food outlets until they fixed the problems, according to statistics compiled by Alberta Health Services.

Rob Bradbury, director of environmental health for the Calgary region of Alberta Health Services, was quoted as saying,

“The numbers are huge. Our mandate is to protect public health. It’s a combination of our vigilance during routine inspections and input we receive from the public as a result of complaints.”

I picked up on that last theme during an interview with AM 660 radio in Calgary this morning, stating,

“The technology is out there – the blackberry I’m using to talk with you can take pictures and video. Just go on youtube and see the videos consumers have taken of yucky restaurant conditions.”
 

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The Calgary Herald put a human face to the dog treat recall in Canada Saturday.

On Thursday, March 13, 2008, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Rollover Premium Pet Food Ltd. warned consumers not to purchase or use certain Roll Over Pork Tenders Premium Dog Treat described below because it may be contaminated with the bacteria responsible for salmonellosis in humans. … There has been one illness reported associated with this product.

The Herald reported on March 15, 2008, that 13-year-old Brandon Jacklin will never handle a dog treat the same way after contracting salmonella from contaminated pork treats and losing 15 pounds during his medical ordeal that initially baffled health officials and frightened his family.

The story says it was only after an official with the Calgary Health Region recalled a similar contamination problem nine years earlier involving dog treats -- from the same company, Rollover Premium Pet Food  -- did the family start to get answers.

Jacklin's mom said,

"I had no idea that normal dog treats you take out of a bag could make someone so sick," adding the health inspector was very diligent in tracking down the source of the illness. Now the Jacklin family is extra vigilant after dealing with dog treats, ensuring they sanitize their hands afterwards.

The Calgary Health Region would not comment on the case, until they receive more information from the health official who investigated.

So the officer who cracked the case, informed the family and triggered a national recall, didn't supply enough information to his or her bosses in Calgary?

Not the first time the Calgary Health Region -- not the individual inspectors -- has been, uh, slow.

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