FLESH EATING WORMS FOR LUNCH WITH A SIDE OF FRIES

Karen, diner

San Antonio, Texas

Karen is a fun and vibrant woman who, at the time, owned a mobile phone store with several employees in her hometown of San Antonio. It was an ordinary day, and during her lunch break, Karen decided to indulge in some Popeyes. She went to the restaurant, ordered her food to go, returned to her store, and sat down to enjoy her red beans and rice—until she noticed something squirming in her meal. Worms. With teeth. Wriggling through the beans like they owned the place.

Her employees saw the little maggot-like creatures too and encouraged Karen to figure out what had happened. Horrified, she called the restaurant, only to be met with screaming and cursing from the manager. Karen was stunned by such unprofessional behavior—after all, she was the one who had been served worms in her food. She sent her cousin, who lived nearby, to speak with the surly and irresponsible staff. The cousin did not get far either. She was also cursed at and dismissed, with the restaurant insisting there was nothing wrong with the food. Clearly, that was not true.

Karen went about her day, but the real nightmare began the next morning. She became violently ill and was soon bedridden. Doctors later discovered she had ingested Ascaris lumbricoides, a parasitic roundworm that causes ascariasis—a serious infection in which the worms hatch in the intestines and then migrate through the body. In Karen’s case, the larvae burrowed into her organs, tore through her appendix, and left her with internal bleeding and a mattress soaked in blood.

The infection led to multiple surgeries and severe complications. Karen eventually found an attorney who agreed to take on her case and bring the matter to court. It was revealed that the Popeyes location had been serving rotten and expired food. After some back and forth in the courtroom, Popeyes settled, and Karen was awarded one million dollars. It was seemingly a victory, but no amount of money can undo the trauma of unknowingly eating flesh-eating parasites. To this day, Karen is still dealing with the medical aftermath of consuming those insidious creatures.