Erin Mims was celebrating her birthday at a local restaurant with her husband on Tuesday in Houston when she noticed a napkin spread on the car door handle as they were leaving, she recalled in a Facebook video.
Mims said she’s a “germaphobe” and wouldn’t have touched the napkin, but after one margarita, she assumed her husband put it there as a joke and promptly tossed it aside with her fingers.
“When my husband got on the phone, I asked him, ‘Did you put a paper towel on my door?’ and it was like ‘no’. Immediately, I started looking for hand sanitizer.’
“I went in, washed my hands, and maybe two minutes later my fingers started tingling,” Mims recalled.
“After five minutes, my whole arm started to tingle, then it started to go numb, I felt dizzy, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, [and] it was hot It was just a bunch of different emotions all at once. I started to panic.’
Erin Mims was rushed to the hospital after touching an allegedly poisoned paper towel to her car door on August 16. Mims was eating at Prospect Park in Houston when she noticed the napkin as she was leaving
Mims grabbed the napkin from her fingers, but later touched the doorknob with her whole hand. Within five minutes, her entire arm went numb and she was rushed to the hospital
Mims recalled the horrific incident in a Facebook video. He recreated parts of the incident by showing viewers how the napkin was placed on the doorknob. IMAGE: Mims recreated how the napkin appeared on her door in a video
Mims emotionally recalled being in the hospital for about six hours as her vitals were not “stable.” A doctor later said the napkin may have been placed there in an attempt to kidnap her
Mims’ husband then called 911 and she was rushed to Houston Health Hospital, where doctors later determined her vitals were unstable.
“I was there for about six and a half hours,” Mims said as her eyes swelled with tears. “The doctor said I had acute poisoning from an unknown substance. I didn’t have enough of it in my system to determine what it was, but just that small amount had me confused.”
“So imagine if I had wrapped my whole arm around it, I probably could have been dead.”
The doctor said the poisoned napkin could have been a kidnapping attempt.
“What started out as a great day turned out to be one of the scariest moments of my life,” Mims said.
Mims’ birthday plans to go to the spa and enjoy a special dinner were ruined in seconds, but she warns others to be alert if they see anything similar.
The Houston Police Department said Mims’ case of poisoning was the first they had seen, but her symptoms were consistent with a variety of poisons.
“Chances are you’ll need to have a lot more than just a report,” a spokesperson told the New York Post. “In her video, her symptoms match hundreds of different poisons. Possible. I’ve learned in my 40s that anything is possible when it comes to the human body.’
Mims was celebrating her birthday with her husband when the incident happened. She recalled not being able to go to the spa or her birthday dinner, but warns others to remain alert to their surroundings
IMAGE: Prospect park Bar & Grill. The restaurant pictured above is where Mims enjoyed her birthday meal with her husband
Like Mims, a Kentucky woman was hospitalized after taking a dollar bill she suspected was laced with fentanyl in July.
Renne Parson says she was driving with her husband, Justin, and children through Nashville, Tenn., when the family stopped at a local McDonald’s to use the bathroom.
Ren was holding her three-month-old baby while waiting to use the toilet when she spotted a bill on the ground.
“I don’t think anything of it – I picked it up,” Wren wrote on Facebook.
As soon as the family got into the car, Wren started showing symptoms as she placed the dollar inside the car.
“All of a sudden I felt it start in my shoulders and the sensation was going down my body quickly and it wouldn’t stop,” she explained.
Ren grabbed her husband’s hand when suddenly her body went numb.
He added: “I could barely speak and I could barely breathe. I was struggling to stay awake as Justin was screaming at me to stay awake and trying to call 911 and find the nearest Fire Station or Hospital. I passed out before we got to the hospital, but luckily they worked almost as fast as my husband to get me there.”
She was later cleared by medical experts who claimed it was an accidental overdose.
Wren assumed the dollar was laced with fentanyl, but police said there was no trace of fentanyl in the bill.
Renne Parson is suspected of being poisoned with a dollar bill laced with fentanyl. Parson was waiting to use the restroom at a McDonald’s in Nashville, Tennessee, when she spotted the dollar on the floor
An officer who arrived at the hospital to take a police report suspected the bill had traces of fentanyl, according to Renne. However, police later said no traces of fentanyl were found on the dollar
The Perry County Sheriff’s Office warned local residents not to touch folded dollar bills on the floor after two reported incidents of fentanyl showing up on the printed currency