A couple from Salinas, California, is urging others to avoid picking and eating wild mushrooms after a terrifying experience that nearly cost one of them his life and ultimately required a liver transplant.
On Nov. 30, 2025, Laura Marcelino, her husband Carlos Diaz, and their children were hiking in Toro Park when they came across wild mushrooms and decided to collect them, according to Monterey County Now.
“We thought to ourselves, it’s the rainy season,” Marcelino, who is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, told KSBW in an interview published Jan. 2. “Back in our town, people pick up mushrooms. It’s food, but we didn’t think it was poisonous.”
The couple’s daughter, Flor Diaz, explained in a GoFundMe campaign that her parents later prepared the mushrooms for dinner at home. Shortly afterward, both Marcelino and Diaz became severely ill. They were the only two members of the household who ate the mushrooms.
“We threw up, had diarrhea, and we were like that all day,” Marcelino told KSBW. “At first, we thought it was normal, but then it became a lot. As it got later in the day, my husband said we should call my brother, and he took us to the hospital.”
The couple was taken to Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, where doctors instructed them not to eat while they were monitored, according to KSBW.
“While my mother began to recover,” Flor later wrote in the GoFundMe, “my father’s condition quickly worsened. He was transferred to Stanford hospital, where his health declined rapidly, and he required an emergency liver transplant to survive.”
“He’s really sick. It’s life or death, is what they told me,” Marcelino said. “I told them to do what they could to save his life.”
Diaz eventually received a liver after being placed at the top of the transplant list and is now in stable condition.
“I feel for the family that donated the liver,” Diaz told KSBW. “It’s sad losing a family member, but I believe they were good people to be able to donate an organ of their loved one and give it to me.”
The family’s ordeal comes amid a warning issued by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on Dec. 5, advising people to stop eating foraged mushrooms after a poisoning outbreak. At the time, officials identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning linked to certain wild mushrooms, resulting in severe liver damage in both children and adults, including one reported death.
According to the department, the cases included significant clusters in Monterey County and the San Francisco Bay Area, though the risk exists statewide.
“Death cap mushrooms contain potentially deadly toxins that can lead to liver failure,” said Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH’s director and state public health officer, in a news release. “Because the death cap can easily be mistaken for edible mushrooms, we advise the public not to forage for wild mushrooms at all during this high-risk season.”
The CDPH also noted that toxic mushrooms can closely resemble safe, edible varieties in both appearance and taste. Officials stressed that “cooking, boiling, drying, or freezing these mushrooms does NOT make them safe to eat.”
Flor, who organized the GoFundMe to help with her father’s recovery, shared that her parents have worked as field laborers to support their six children.
“Their work has always been physically demanding, and they have faced many challenges, but nothing could have prepared us for what happened recently,” she wrote.
“The road to recovery is long, and both of my parents are unable to work,” she added. “With no income and mounting medical expenses, our family is facing an overwhelming financial burden.”
Speaking with KSBW, Marcelino called for warning signs at Toro Park to alert visitors about the dangers of wild mushrooms. Diaz offered a simpler message to the public.
“If someone sees a mushroom, don’t grab it and don’t use it as food,” he said. “They are very poisonous.”
