Woman fears she was poisoned after picking up banknote laced with mystery substance from McDonald’s floor
A MCDONALD’S customer collapsed and thought she was going to die after she picked up a dollar bill she believes was laced with drugs. Renee Parsons said she felt “a burning sensation” and her whole body went numb – and her husband Justin also felt symptoms where she had clutched his arm. Mom-of-two Renee was […]
A MCDONALD’S customer collapsed and thought she was going to die after she picked up a dollar bill she believes was laced with drugs.
Renee Parsons said she felt “a burning sensation” and her whole body went numb – and her husband Justin also felt symptoms where she had clutched his arm.
Mom-of-two Renee was rushed to hospital where doctors reportedly diagnosed an accidental drug overdose.
Her terrifying ordeal began while she was driving with her husband and two kids to a business conference in Texas from their home in Lexington, Kentucky.
They stopped off at a McDonald’s in Bellevue, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, where she spotted the $1 note on the floor.
Within minutes she collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness, according to warning she posted on Facebook.
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Renee said: “My body went completely numb, I could barely talk and I could barely breathe.
“It’s almost like a burning sensation, if you will, that starts here at your shoulders, and then it just goes down because it’s almost like it’s numbing your entire body.”
Justin told WKRN News 2: “She hadn’t said anything for a while, then she said, ‘Justin, I am sorry. I love you.’ Then she just quit talking.
“She looked like she was dying. She certainly was unconscious and very pale.”
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She had grabbed Justin’s arm with the same hand used to pick up the cash – and soon after, he developed a rash and his lips went numb.
Justin raced her to St Thomas Ascension Hospital at speeds of up to 95mph, he told a local TV station.
Her symptoms wore off after four hours and she was discharged.
The couple believe the dollar bill was laced with fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin.
However, police cast doubt on the theory yesterday.
A Metro Nashville police officer who went to the hospital reportedly ruled out fentanyl as Renee did not need a shot of Narcan to be revived.
And preliminary tests did not reveal any drugs in her system.
The police department added officers could not see any residue on the dollar bill, but they will not carry out further tests as no one has been charged with a crime.
But Renee is sure she was exposed to a dangerous substance.
She said: “What I do know is how I felt, what happened. It can’t be made up.
“I don’t care if it’s a $20 bill or a $100 bill do not touch it!”
Police warning
Her scare comes after police in Tennessee issued warnings over folded dollar bills found on gas station floors.
Two found in Perry County contained a white powder – later discovered to be a mix of methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Sheriff Nick Weems said: “This is very dangerous, folks! Please share and educate your children to not pick up the money.”
Meanwhile 80 miles away in Giles County, the sheriff’s office circulated a photo of a tiny amount of fentanyl it said was enough to “kill anyone that it comes into contact with”.
However, experts say fentanyl is poorly absorbed through the skin and must be ingested to cause an overdose.
Dr Rebecca Donald of Vanderbilt University Medical Center said Renee’s symptoms did not indicate fentanyl poisoning.
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If the banknote was contaminated with another drug, it would need more than skin contact to make her ill.
She said: “It is much more likely for her to have a reaction if she had inadvertently rubbed her nose and exposed that drug to some of the blood vessels in her nose or licked her fingers or rubbed her eyes.”
