Botulism survivor recalls spending 314 days in intensive care

Editors note: Doralice Goes, a Brazilian public servant, visited an organic products fair in her home city of Brasília in Federal District, on Dec. 31, 2021. Among the artisanal products was a tomato and almond pesto sauce. The 49-year-old stored it in her pantry and, 23 days later, on a Sunday night, opened the sauce and had three spoonfuls with toast, and a glass of wine in her home. The product showed no signs of being spoiled. This is her story.

On Tuesday morning, at 11 o’clock, I began to feel a general weakness, as if my body didn’t want to stand up. Believing it was a result of earlier exercise, I took a shower, had lunch at home, and drove to work, about 20 km away. At work, my voice started to slur and colleagues couldn’t understand what I was saying. I felt tingling sensations in my hands and feet. I decided to drive to the nearest emergency room. On the way, the symptoms worsened.

When parking the car, my legs stopped moving, and to reach the emergency room, I leaned on other cars. Half an hour later, I experienced a decline in respiratory capacity, became tetraplegic, was intubated, and directed to the intensive care unit. The diagnostic suspicions included Guillain-Barré syndrome in the forms of Miller Fisher or acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN), or a reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Doralice remained conscious throughout the process
I heard family and friends come to say goodbye, and in moments of hallucination, I saw my body being prepared for an autopsy.

On the second day in hospital, a neurologist, Dr. Samir Souki, conducted a clinical examination. He asked: “If you are conscious, move any part of your body.” And, very slowly, I managed to move two toes on my right foot, which caught his attention. Upon realizing that I was able to respond to a simple command, the neurologist confirmed that I was conscious and said: “This is botulism. I have studied the disease for 10 years and have never seen a case.” I was given the antitoxin on the second day of hospitalization, four days after eating the pesto.

The local health surveillance was alerted and visited my home, with my sister, to collect samples of potentially contaminated food. Honey, smoked salmon, tuna, and the pesto sauce were collected, with the last three stored in the refrigerator. The samples were sent to the Adolfo Lutz laboratory and, 38 days later, through a mouse bioassay, the presence of botulinum toxin type A was found in the pesto sauce. Before this confirmation, I was treated as if I had Guillain-Barré syndrome.

I spent 314 days in the intensive care unit and needed to be on a ventilator for nine months – the same amount of time it took for me to stand up. I underwent two and a half months of hemodialysis, in addition to four blood transfusions, and surgery. I used a tube to be fed and urinate for months, as well as contracting Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) and Covid-19, among various complications.

In the ICU, I underwent physiotherapy three times a day and speech therapy twice. It took three months to open my eyes. I communicated with family by moving two toes on my right foot while they spelled out the alphabet: if it was “yes,” I would move; if it was “no,” I would remain still, thus forming sentences. I spent seven months without seeing the sun, bathing in bed and sleeping at a 35-degree angle, almost sitting up. I missed hot showers, my bed, and the company of my three cats. They gave me the will to get out of that state, and after seven months, I began to receive visits from my pets in the hospital.

The rehabilitation process was not easy. I spent almost a year in the hospital and another two years dedicated to daily rehabilitation. I had to relearn how to breathe, eat, speak, walk, urinate, and defecate — relearn how to live. I left the hospital using a walker, but was unable to get up from beds and chairs, and the toilet had to be adapted. I had many falls, as well as xerostomia (a dry mouth), cataracts in both eyes, and severe lower back pain that became chronic.

In addition to health issues, I incurred a debt of R$300,000 (U.S. $58,000) with the health insurance, an amount deducted monthly from my paycheck. A bank blacklisted me when I couldn’t pay the credit card bill while I was quadriplegic.

I returned to work after 20 months, but even four years after botulism I still deal with generalized weakness and cramps. I continue doing weight training, therapeutic pilates, and recently started playing tennis. Unfortunately, I have become a slower person in performing daily activities. “My life was paralyzed for at least two years and changed forever. I am no longer the same person I used to be.”

Health authorities went to the market and gave a talk to vendors. They also visited the residence of the sauce producer to check the conditions in which food was made. The sauce had no expiration date but I didn’t see it – I considered it safe since I had been a customer of that vendor for two years. The market, although it took place every Saturday morning, was not registered, and the vendor did not have authorization to manufacture the product. No fine was imposed, and the vendor continued selling the product while I fought for my life in ICU.

I survived to tell my story and promote awareness about food safety in society, especially botulism. I alert doctors to the disease so they are open to the diagnosis. In the public sector, I fight for cases to be recorded. I began to study the disease and noticed that cases happen almost every week in different countries. Before having the disease, I knew nothing about it.

Since August 2023, I have been giving lectures on botulism for the food industry, universities, and hospitals, sharing my experiences and knowledge. In November 2025, I enrolled in a master’s program in food safety to deepen my research and hope that policies regarding botulism will be better implemented. I intend to contribute to the adoption of measures to combat the disease.

I published a book in December 2024, “Botulism, an Invisible Risk to Life – Learn About 74 Recent Global Outbreaks and 8 Recalls,” in support of continued education on botulism and share my story on social media, given the lack of clarity in the diagnosis of the disease.

I hope that other people do not experience the nightmare I faced. I seek to help botulism patients and their families around the world, with some reaching out when they are in the critical phase of the disease in the ICU. This interaction provides me with an indescribable sense of usefulness.

Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2026/02/botulism-survivor-recalls-spending-314-days-in-intensive-care/