Maple Ridge family says mass illness affecting hundreds after stay at Mexican resort

What was supposed to be a dream week with family, friends, and loved ones turned into disaster.

A Maple Ridge family is sharing the story of an mass illness that was allegedly spread at a Mexican all-inclusive resort.

Sheena Robinson and her family travelled to Mexico for a friend’s all-inclusive destination wedding. After spending just over two days at Sandos Playacar Resort, Robinson, and 30 others in her group of 32 wedding guests, slowly started to feel ill after their first meal from the buffet.

“I woke up with severe nausea,” Robinson said. “When I say severe, it was intense, to the point that I ran from my bed to the washroom and got sick. From that moment on, it was a domino effect of people getting sick.”

Robinson says she felt the resort was not very sanitary as there was a lingering smell of sewage. On a trip that cost upward of $10,000, she says they spent most of their time in bed –or in the bathroom.

The only member of Robinson’s family who did not get sick was her daughter, who has a severe nut allergy and didn’t eat any of the same food.

“The response from the hotel was horrendous,” Robinson claims.

“They were not there to help in any way when we were in need of urgent supplies, and they were not there in any way to help support us when we were sick at all.”

During their stay, Mexican health authorities were reportedly on site to investigate. The buffet at the resort has since been closed, and the water supply has been cut off.

Since returning from their trip, Robinson says she has been in contact with hundreds of other people who spent time at this same resort and experienced a similar illness.

“Us being in Vancouver, to the group from Winnipeg, to, I believe, there’s a group on the east coast. And we have friends that came from the United States — and we have absolutely nothing in common — and we’ve all gone to the same place and gotten sick within the same amount time.”

Robinson and her family have a medical test scheduled, but others are showing positive results for Entamoeba histolytica, a parasite typically transmitted through water that has been contaminated with feces.

She says the experience can’t be described as anything less than a nightmare.

“It was the worst 12 hours of my life.”

The Leader Spirit reached out to Sandos Resorts and the Mexican Ministry of Health for comment but did not hear back before the broadcast deadline.