An Ohio man whose family foraged for mushrooms for generations nearly died after eating poisonous mushrooms.
Bill Hickman found a patch of mushrooms growing in his parents’ yard. To be safe, he says he used a smartphone app which identified the mushrooms as safe to eat.
He says the mushrooms tasted delicious when he sautéed them at home for dinner, but hours later, Hickman suffered excruciating abdominal pains.
“I felt like I could have died on the bathroom floor,” Hickman tells Inside Edition.
As Hickman grew more sick, his wife, Tammy, wondered if the mushrooms caused it.
“We’ve been together many many years. I’ve seen all kinds of sickness, flu, things that he’s gone through and this was totally different and it was so sudden,” Tammy says.
Tammy took pictures of the mushrooms and emailed them to poison control for analysis.
The mushrooms her husband ate were known as destroying angels, a highly poisonous variety known for its lethal toxicity.
Hickman was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with amatoxin poisoning. His condition worsened. Doctors told Tammy to say her goodbyes.