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Popular Restaurant, Roscoe's, Closes As Owner Fights For Life
It's the end of an era for a local restaurant that has been serving up soul food for the past five years after its owner contracts a rare, painful and deadly disorder. Tonight how his family is coping and
planning on saying farewell to the community. NBC5's Laura Cavanaugh reports.
***
Niikola Moore is packing up glasses, plates, even the hot sauce, all the essentials that helped the highly popular Roscoe's BBQ serve thousands who walked through their doors.
But tonight the doors of this once bustling blues venue are closed. The owner and presider of the grill, Will Moore, is gravely ill. He has a life-threatening autoimmune disorder. The 48 year-old Moore contracted the rare Stevens-Johnson Syndrome while being treated for pneumonia. His wife says doctors administered the antibiotic Levaquin. What resulted was a hypersensitive, toxic reaction that is reportedly incurable.
Moore's wife says for the last month she has been caring for her bed-ridden husband and trying to keep the restaurant afloat, but it just became too much. She is laser focused on caring for her husband, liquidating what they own to pay for mounting medical bills in the six-figure range. The Moores do not have health insurance.
The family is pulling together helping prepare for this weekend's yard sale at Roscoe's, selling everything from tables, chairs and bar supplies to blues memorabilia and neon lights.
But saying goodbye does not come without a few tears. And gratitude for the community's love and support.
That yard sale will be this Saturday, March 16 from 10am - 4pm at Roscoe's on 117 S Main in Phoenix. As an added treat, they will be serving Roscoe's famous pulled pork sandwiches.
Monetary donations can be made via Paypal at
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About the Author
Laura Cavanaugh
Laura Cavanaugh anchors NBC5 News at 6 and 11.
She brings incredible experience to the NBC5 news team. In addition to producing television news in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Laura worked with Dateline NBC and ABC’s Primetime Live, Nightline, World News Tonight and Good Morning America.
She earned a Master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in both Spanish and Business from the University of Michigan. Laura won USC's Annenberg Director's Award for Excellence.
While working in New Mexico, Laura was recognized by the Associated Press for outstanding work and won two awards from the New Mexico Broadcasters Association.
As a former Spanish teacher, Laura believes in community service. In her free time, she spends her weekends volunteering and fundraising for organizations that benefit children, animals and people in need. Those organizations include CASA, S.M.A.R.T., Women's Crisis Support Team, Southern Oregon Latina Scholarship Fund and Dogs for the Deaf.
Laura enjoys salsa dancing, reading, good music, working out and college sports. She also loves to spend time with her miniature dachshund.
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Comments (21)
Unfortunately her symptoms due to Levaquin are not rare. The FDA had received over 65000 complaints and have done nothing. I am only 28 and have serious musculoskeletal health issues starting after my 3rd pill of Levaquin. Plenty of articles by nytimes Forbes have been written but the FDA has not warned doctors and the mfg doesn't want to take any responsibilities clearly.
Her symptoms will improve but takes many years. It's been 2 years of non stop doctor appts where no one has been able to help me or even understand the symptoms. The doctors aren't even aware of the basic side effects listed. They have been downplayed.
This medicine should be greatly limited instead its handed out like candy. While many take it w no issues. A lot of people have taken Levaquin and then one time you take it and it destroys your body. And there's nothing you can do to stop it but give it time.
The mfg should at least do research and warm doctors. And the FDA should at least warn doctors.
I would just like to let you know that what happened to this man is NOT RARE!!! There are some ADR's (adverse drug reactions) with this class of antibiotics (fluoroquinolones, including Levaquin, Avelox, Cipro) that cause immediate, severe, and sometimes fatal reactions BUT it also can cause permanent, chronic illness associated with PNS (Peripheral Nervous System) and CNS (Central Nervous System)damage. This damage can/will leave you with a life filled with a list of symptoms that include muscoskeletal pain, nerve damage, neuropathy, bone deterioration, insomnia, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, numerous gastric issues, fatigue, tendon rupture, tendon weakness and pain, autonomic disoroders and slew of others!! Basically, it robs your life quality like a thief in the night and some recover, but some of us are left with a life of endless suffering! The drug companies, Bayer, and Johnson and Johnson, either need to FIX this medication (I don't think that's possible), remove it from the market, and/or conduct research for a cure, since they are the ones that invented this poison!!! The antibiotics were created to be used as a last line defense in life or death illnesses but MOST healthcare professionals pass them out like candy on Halloween!!! NOBODY deserves to have their life stolen because they trustingly take a medication that their doctor didn't bother to ADEQUATELY (or in most cases, NOT at all) tell you the side effects!!! PLEASE, STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!
Adverse Reactions to Fluoroquilone Antibiotics are NOT rare--1000's are struggling day after day just to survive. They were not informed by their doctor of these very tragic lifechanging reactions. There is not treatment or cures for this damage. The FDA has received thousands of complaints, for the last 10 years, yet this damage goes on day after day....I am a victim.
What a tragic story. Doctors claim fluoroquinolones antibiotic's adverse effects are rare and nothing to worry about yet I too am suffering from a wide list of symptoms that has left me bed ridden. These drugs need to be taken off the commonly prescribed list and the side effects should be studied alot better so that doctors can help those of us who have been hit because so far doctor send us home without any answers and leave us to fend for ourselves, it isn't right.
This drug Levaquin and all the others that contain fluoroquinolones, are ruining quality of life for thousands of people. I know first hand. The warnings on this drug do not give it justice they are even more sinister and bizarre than can be described on the side of a box. Please do humanity a favor and do more reports on these fluoroquinolones drugs. Someone needs to care. The medical community has turned it's back on our suffering
Thank you for reporting this story! I took Levaquin for a week 32 months ago and suffered numerous adverse effects, most of which I still suffer from, including three autoimmune diseases, damage to multiple tendons, and nerve damage. Some of my adverse effects began after the second Levaquin pill, most within the first six months, and some tendon damage 18 months later. Most of my doctors deny that my damage was caused by Levaquin, telling me that such reactions would be "extremely rare," thus perpetuating the myth that serious adverse effects are rare. I urge you to dig deeper into this issue and shed more light on it. Thank you.
This is not rare. These antibiotics have damaged many and in some cases people do not survive after taking them... I was damaged by Cipro 1 1/2 years ago and still have many health problems.
I was disabled by Levaquin. I'm a 35 year old mother of two have had to start working part time. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars, on top of insurance premiums, and untold hours in the doctor's office because of the damage to my nervous and musculoskeletal systems. This antibiotic should only be given in the rarest of circumstances.
I was also ruined by Cipro. In September of 2011 I was prescribed 750mg cipro 2x/day + Flagyl for what they said was Diverticulitis...no culture, just a few symptoms. In truth I was just constipated as a enema later proved. Since that time I have become a weakling, been to three mental wards as everyone thought I was crazy from the Cipro induced depression/anxiety, lost my job, my money, my cars, my future, and most importantly my health. I can no longer walk normally and my gastro-intestinal system is all messed up from a freakish twitch that started while on the Cipro in my pelvic floor -- it literally never stops. Of course I have no "classifiable" injuries because the standard tests won't show mitochondrial DNA damage and mutilation - the sinister thing about these drugs is that they damage DNA and the collagen matrix in your tissues, which standard tests won't show. There are tens if not hundreds of thousands more like us but the majority don't connect the dots to taking a fluoroquinolone antibiotic in their past...please visit the Facebook Wall of Pain to read my full story here ... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=431367710221607&set=a.209189629106084.55463.209182505773463&type=3&theater
I too had a horrific reaction to this drug. If you think you may have had a reaction as well, please do not take over the counter or prescription anti-inflammatory medications! Doctors frequently prescribe them along with this drug or try to fix the side effects of this drug with them. The results can be absolutely disastrous to your health.
I was treated in a hospital for supposed pneumonia without consult or even telling me why after four days I went into heart failure, respiratory failure, burning veins, long list - I had arrived at ER uncrippled, on no meds period. I now have a ruptured shoulder cuff(MRI shows), cannot walk, CN, PN, liver and kidney damage. I almost died in the hospital from this drug and I had to fight to get the records because they did not want to find out what they had given me. It is NOT rare - you have no re-course because there is no cure for most of the damages.I can no longer drive, care for myself, my pets, my gardens/yard, cook. It was like hitting a brick wall. Do not take an FQ drug - plenty of antibiotics without any of these risks and doctors know the risks - they get a permanent patient with so much wrong to refer to dozens of specialist, run tests, - it's a sham. They say they don't know?
This is so true. My daughter was floxed by Cipro and the doctor who prescribed it referred her to a Rheumatologist who without even touching her proclaimed she had Fibromyalgia- second opinion said no and now she has been to a myriad of doctors. He was trying to get a different diagnosis to cover his as*.They make money by floxing people so what do they care? It's more money for the AMA and Big Pharma. The real crime is that they act like they don't know anything about FQ drug toxicity. My daughter has troubling walking and her hands swell up. She is wracked with pain. She was a very vibrant active girl and is mother to my 5 year old grandson who is so worried about his Mom. This affects entire families.
@Grace - they gave me mega doses of Prednisone(600 mg), NSAID's 4000+ mg - to try to stop the event - it is clearly stated on the black box warning NOT to give concomitant with these drugs. It gets worse - no safety agency HHS/CMS/AMA or QIO claims this black box warning has any merit - the QIO board certified research physician went so far as to state IN WRITING - Levaquin is not black boxed nor would use with prednisone or NSAID's intensify damages..... anyone with a computer can find this information online at NIH or FDA - if you now what drugs were used. Something not quite right..Hm?
Laura, thank you for sharing Will's story. Unfortunately, Levaquin Toxicity (or poisoning) is FAR from RARE. It happens daily. Will's ADR may be less common, but all of us poisoned by Levaquin or any Fluoroquinolone (Cipro, Avelox) can tell you it is life changing and debilitating. Unfortunately Johnson & Johnson (Levaquin) and Bayer (Cipro) do absolutely nothing and the FDA has put a black box warning label on them, but those labels don't make it to the doctor and very rarely make it to the patient. Check out this page https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fluoroquinolone-Wall-of-Pain/209182505773463?fref=ts for just a few of the horrible stories and there are many, many more of us.
In July 17th I started an antibotic called Cipro for a suspected UTI. After just three doses every joint in my body ached so bad it hurt to move. I was told I could stop the antibotic because I did not even have an infection. In the course of the next couple of weeks I developed a very painful lower back ache with a knot under the skin. I did not injure my back. After a bad headache I took to ibuprofen and that is when things went really bad. I developed a severe back ache that felt like a pinched nerve. I could barely walk. My appetite had disappeared and my stomach stopped even growling. I lost 15lbs in less than 3 weeks of muscle. I had muscle weakness and muscle spasms throughout my whole body. I thought I was dying. I had been healthy prior to taking Cipro and decided to research side effects online. I have learned a lot and that you should not take steroids or ibuprofen with them. The Cipro was still in my system and caused a neurotoxin reaction when I took it. I found many stories like mine and a group of people who have also suffered this adverse reaction to this group of fluoroquoline antibiotics. Over the next 6 months (up until this day) I have experienced all of these side effects:
Muscle waste
Muscle weakness
Muscle spasms/twitching
Tendon pain
Hip joint pain
Jaw inflammation
Elbow joint pain
Flank pain
Shoulder pain
Neuropathy (random burning throughout body)
Anxiety
Heart palpations
Digestive problems- not absorbing nutrients from foods
Food sensitivities to gluten, soy, pork and sugar.
Also I have lost about half of my hair and 21 lbs
Plus a few other random issues with throat and ears.
Some days the pain is just awful.
It has been eight months. Eight very long months. I am doing a lot better than I did in the beginning. I think I am making a slow recovery and I am grateful for that. I pray for the day I make a full recovery.
I know medication can save people's life but they shouldn't be handing it out like candy and certainly they should really consider the adverse reactions it causes people long term. Please don't take this medication or let your children take it. It is very dangerous and ruins people's lives. Cipro and Levaquin should be avoided at all costs unless it is life or death. And just because you took it once with no reaction does not mean it won't happen the next time you take it. Reactions do not always happen immediately. Please spread the word. I hope they take these pills off the market.
Both Levaquin and it's cousin, Cipro are on the the top ten list of drugs with the most consumer complaints against them . . . it is rare when a doctor ACKNOWLEDGES that these drugs have just permanently destroyed your quality of life. There is a documentary film (Certain Adverse Effects) and a book (Bitter Pills) written about fluoroquinlone antibiotic damage and the myth of how 'rare' it is. There are also many support groups online for victims of these drugs ranging from hundreds to thousands of members.
LEVAQUIN WRECKED MY LIFE!
These are not traditional antibiotics cultured from living organisms, rather, they are super-toxic chemicals that when administered in the proper dose range for the proper amount of time will hopefully kill off bacteria without doing significant damage to the host, however several studies have found doctors rarely prescribe these dangerous drugs according to guidelines, nor do they follow up to see if patients are experiencing any of the horrible symptoms of fluoroquinolone toxicity. In fact, they routinely discount the severe reactions of their patients even if they have many of the “symptoms” listed in the package insert at the same time including some that are very serious or life threatening. The sales literature boasts that these drugs penetrate throughout the body better than other antibiotics because they are a fairly simple molecule, one which damages everything in its path. Of course it often takes quite some time for this damage to make itself known so the victims never suspect an antibiotic they took weeks, months, even years ago when a tendon ruptures or a vein swells up or their joints become inflamed. These poisons attack hardest where we are weakest so the symptoms are also often returns of issues from long ago so victims rarely make the connection and worse yet, when they do doctors dismiss the possibility as these problems are "so rare", thus perpetuating the gross under reporting and the resulting lack of research into the incredible number of ways FQ's harm people, and people do get harmed, from head to toe, with many different health problems, usually all at the same time with little or no help at all from the people who did this to us.
I took Levaquin in the fall of 2007 and had problems immediately and then more and more but I did not figure out wtf happened to me for 3 1/2 years even though my list of problems reads like the warnings in the product literature. My blood pressure was all over the place, I lost control of my bladder, I had horrible diarrhea and gas from hell, heartburn, stomach cramps, headaches, confusion, insomnia, fatigue, central and peripheral nervous system issues like tingling and zapping and numbness, body-wide pain, spontaneous tendon ruptures, cartilage lesions requiring a cartilage transplant, blood clots, a hematoma, bloated failing veins, pulmonary edema, panic attacks, fasciculations and convulsive activity, tendonitis, rapid disc degeneration, nerve pain, chemical sensitivities, muscle weakness, and the list goes on but I can't remember it all, oh yeah, memory problems.
These drugs were designed as a last resort when all other options have been tried not to be handed out like candy as they are now. Big Pharma is well aware of how much damage FQ's do but they make billions every year selling them and then billions and billions more selling all sorts of other drugs to their unwitting victims like muscle relaxers and pain relievers and anti-depressants and anti-convulsives and antacids and sleeping aids and pills for incontinence and so on. Do not think for one minute that the executives of these companies are not ruthless enough to intentionally sell you things they know will damage you in order to sell you more of their toxic addictive stuff; these are the world's biggest drug dealers and their morals are those of a cocaine cartel. This has been common knowledge since they sold thalidomide long after they knew it was causing horrific birth defects fifty years ago. Now these companies are fined a billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, and they are constantly settling lawsuits. Hopefully someday they will settle one with us. If you asked me to go through this for fifty million dollars I would say no in a split second so I figure Johnson & Johnson owe me at least that much. I would also like to see their executives in prison where they belong, for the rest of their lives.
DO NOT TAKE LEVAQUIN, CIPRO, OR AVELOX! (Unless you have been exposed to anthrax or flesh eating bacteria). Good luck!
This video by Global Television in Toronto is an investigative journalism segment revealing how bad fluoroquinolones and the companies who make them really are. I am the guy with the beard.
http://www.globalnews.ca/bitter+pill/6442600583/story.html
I meant to open my first comment with support for Will and Nikola Moore. My heart goes out to you. I understand what you are going through and I am just so eager to try to prevent this horror to happen to anyone else that I forgot to say something to you. I'm sure you understand. I hope and pray that things turn around for you and Will starts feeling better. Best wishes to both of you! Peace
I am diabetic. When I was prescribed levaquin antibiotic for a leg wound in 2011, side effect sheets warned it can cause diabetes or drive blood sugars out of control. It also warned of nerve damage that MAY be reversible if you report to the doctor and stop the medication. Doctors ignored my reports of diminished hearing and vision, numbness and tingling and pain extending to all joints of the body as I lay in the hospital and the attached nursing home. I am not recovering, but feel weaker by the day. I was propelled into the two prospects diabetics fear the most--blindness and amputation--by this toxic antibiotic.
It was the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin that destroyed my life. It made a cripple out of a previously healthy and active 32-year old woman who was prescribed it for a suspected bladder infection.
The true side effects of these antibiotics are only vaguely mentioned in the package insert, and there is absolutely no mention that these can be long term. The side effects that I am suffering from include nerve damage, rheumatoid arthritis-like and pins and needles feelings in my extremities, numbness, electro-shocks, burning and tingling sensations, neuropathy, sensitive and fragile skin, brain fog, loss of memory, insomnia, anxiety, sensitivity to cold temperatures, sensitivity to sounds and smells, phototoxicity, rashes, TMJ and hearing issues, tinnitus, dental pain, vertigo, floaters in my vision, difficulty swallowing, feelings of paralysis, and such pain in my joints, muscles and tendons that I walk around like an 82-year old woman. It causes me to suffer other physical restrictions, such as not being able to stand in place, drive for any length of time, walk for any distance or lift any objects.
It has been 12 months since taking the last pill, and I am still suffering from the debilitating side effects which limit me in every aspect of my life. I have developed extreme food intolerances and cannot eat out anymore. My career has taken a blow as I can no longer work full time. I have no strength to pursue a social life and am falling into isolation. I have spent tens of thousands on alternative treatments because conventional doctors cannot find anything wrong with me and do not attribute my condition to the use of the antibiotic at all. I have talked to so many deaf ears and have had to endure insults on my mental state.
I am, however, not alone. If you type the words "Fluoroquinolone Toxicity" into the internet, you will see the stories of thousands of others who are suffering as I. What has gotten me through this is a support group on Facebook. We have all experienced the same symptoms, the same disregard from the medical community. We were all previously relatively healthy American citizens. There are many more sufferers who are not on these forums - sufferers who don't know that they are suffering from this because the effects of the antibiotics are often cumulative or do not show up until after the course of antibiotics had been completed. These other sufferers often believe they have fibromyalgia, lyme disease or chronic fatigue syndrome. In my particular case it was cumulative. I was prescribed Levaquin in 2008. I suffered an immediate reaction in the form of ankle problems after only two days. I made my doctor switch me to another antibiotic and forgot about it. In the weeks that ensued I developed extreme TMJ and had to seek treatment from many medical specialists such as an HNO and a dentist and was prescribed massages and heat treatment. At the time, I didn't associate my problems with the antibiotic but rather with with the stress I was under. Looking back, I was already mildly "floxed". Then at the beginning of last year I was prescribed Ciprofloxacin for a suspected bladder infection. I spent the entire summer suffering weird effects and phantom illnesses that I again did not attribute to the antibiotic. These included interstitial cystitis which basically feels like a bladder infection and for which I was prescribed more antibiotics (eventhough no doctor could ever find any bacteria), nerve sensitivities in my extremities and an extreme intolerance of cold. However, I still led a "normal" life and wasn't yet aware that my issues had been caused by the antibiotic. Then one year ago, I was again prescribed Ciprofloxacin which proved to be the final straw which broke my back, and accumulated levels sent me into an acute stage of poisoning. The reaction was so severe and immediate, that there was no denying on my part what caused it. So, be careful. If you "tolerated" it once, you might not again.
In my opinion fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as Levaquin and Ciprofloxacin should only be taken if all safer therapies fail. Take it from me - I lost the life I had when I swallowed the pills. My old self died then.
P.S. In the meantime I have developed multiple chemical sensitivity, which has restricted my lifestyle even more.