Colton George, an active 10-year-old boy from Avon, IN, known for his prowess on the baseball field and his agility on the basketball court, was the embodiment of the limitless energy of childhood. But on Nov. 17, 2024, his life took a drastic and terrifying turn.
That morning, Colton was doubled over in pain, his face contorted with agony. His parents, Amber and Chris George, rushed him to the emergency room, clutching a stool sample in hopes of answers. Within hours, Colton was diagnosed with Shiga toxin-producing E.
coli Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (STEC-HUS), a condition that had triggered acute kidney failure. Doctors warned the parents that the next 24 to 72 hours would determine whether their son would survive. A healthy boy and a sudden illness “We thought it was just the antibiotics,” Amber George said, recounting the early days of Colton’s illness.
Colton had recently been prescribed medication for a tooth infection, and his diarrhea seemed like a plausible side effect. But as days passed, his symptoms worsened. By the weekend, Colton’s diarrhea had escalated to 15–20 episodes a day, and he complained of severe abdominal pain.
“When he couldn’t continue playing in his basketball game, we knew something was really wrong,” Chris George said. “Colton’s the kind of kid who’ll push through anything. For him to stop.
.. that scared us.
” By the next day, Colton was in the intensive care unit at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, hooked up to .