What to Know
Emily Marris and her husband, Josh, live in California with their three young children. The parents take their children’s health very seriously and have always focused on healthy eating. In 2025, their youngest child, Brooklyn, became extremely ill with what the Marrises thought was a stomach bug. But as the child’s vomiting became more severe, the parents realized something was very wrong.
Brooklyn nearly died from hemolytic uremic syndrome triggered by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli in raw goat’s milk. The Marris family hopes that sharing their story will prevent others from the heartbreak they experienced.
Brooklyn became sick very quickly.
Emily Marris told People that Brooklyn’s pediatrician told the parents to watch for vomiting and give her fluids. In a matter of hours, her illness took a serious turn.
“About a day and a half into it is when it turned into the greenish, blackish bile throw-up, and it was clear something like this wasn’t a normal stomach bug,” Emily Marris said.
Emergency room doctors initially thought Brooklyn had a stomach bug, but things changed quickly. Her parents opted to stay for IV fluids because Brooklyn was lethargic and limp. Her bloodwork revealed hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Brooklyn’s kidneys began to fail.
Emily Marris told People that if they had left the emergency room, Brooklyn might have died that night.
“We didn’t know it, but she was already in full kidney failure,” Josh Marris said.
Doctors did not hold back. “The head of the PICU’s exact words were, ‘If you had not brought her in, you would’ve awakened in the morning to a dead child.’ It progressed so quickly. It really did look like a very typical stomach bug until it didn’t,” Emily Marris added.
Infectious disease specialists determined that raw goat’s milk caused the illness.
While speaking with infectious diseases specialists about their diet, Emily Marris revealed she gave Brooklyn raw goat’s milk intermittently while breastfeeding for the past six months.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, raw milk carries a serious risk of foodborne illness.
“Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized, a process that removes disease-causing germs by heating milk to a high enough temperature for a certain length of time,” the CDC explains.
The Marris family thought they knew the truth about raw milk.
Emily Marris told People that she and Josh did their research and felt educated about giving Brooklyn raw goat’s milk.
“When I first did research trying to learn about raw milk and the pros and cons, the serious effects of raw milk did not show up in my searches. If it had, I would’ve never given it to her,” she said.
The family claims the supplier assured them the milk was “safe and tested for pathogens.” Now Emily and Josh Marris feel they’d been duped.
Brooklyn continues to heal from her illness.
The little girl, who will be three in January, works with both physical and speech therapists and takes regular medication. Her mother said that from the outside, no one would know Brooklyn had been so sick, but the illness forever changed her family.
Now, Emily and Josh Marris work to educate other families about the dangers of raw milk.
“We’re not some stupid parents that just made some whimsical choice, you know? We thought we were doing our due diligence. We love our children. We’re very cognizant about what we give them, and this can happen to anybody that is a good, loving, intelligent, kind parent,” Emily Marris said.
Josh Marris added that he and his wife would never put their children’s lives in danger for milk.
“Never in my wildest imagination would I have ever thought that consuming raw milk, or milk of any sort, for a child could lead to death,” Josh Marris said.
“So, I just want people to know that this is potentially dangerous. If an article had come out about another family and we saw it before we made the decision to get this raw milk for Brooklyn, we would not have done it.”
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