Marine Veteran Left with Permanent Brain Injuries After Eating Contaminated Oysters at Chicago Steakhouse, Lawsuit Claims

Joe Belgio, 44, will likely need care for the rest of his life, his attorney said

NEED TO KNOW

• Joe Belgio, a Marine veteran and firefighter, fell into a coma after eating contaminated oysters at a Chicago steakhouse last year, lawsuit alleges
• The suit claims the 44-year-old dad of one has been left brain-damaged with lifelong care needs
• “I want people to be aware that this could happen to anyone,” said his fiancée Melanie Stayer. “Life can change so quickly”

A Chicago steakhouse chain has been hit with a lawsuit more than a year after a local veteran suffered permanent brain injuries from eating allegedly contaminated oysters during a visit.

The 44-year-old Joe Belgio, who was a Marine and a firefighter, became ill in early July 2025, days after a family meal at a Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse in Oak Brook, a Chicago suburb, according to a complaint filed on Monday, Aug. 10 and viewed by PEOPLE.

It’s alleged that Cicero resident Belgio, who has a toddler daughter, Carmela, with his fiancée, Melanie Stayer, became severely ill and was left in a coma for months after eating contaminated raw oysters at the steakhouse on June 30.

“He ended up getting very, very ill, and resulting in cardiac arrests where he lost consciousness and oxygen for at least eight minutes, and was revived by this very fire department, and has been in the hospital ever since,” his attorney, Scott O’Sullivan, told ABC affiliate WLS.

The complaint, which also named fish and seafood distributor Supreme Lobster and Seafood Company as a defendant, alleges that doctors ran tests and found several pathogens associated with shellfish contamination.

The filing alleges that he contracted Enteropathogenic E. coli, Plesiomonas shigelloides and Vibrio cholerae from eating the oysters, and that Belgio’s physicians determined to a “reasonable degree of medical certainty” that his subsequent health problems were caused by consuming the oysters.

The suit adds that he didn’t consume any other raw oysters or shellfish between his visit to the steakhouse and his hospitalization.

O’Sullivan said the dad of one is likely to remain “bedridden” for the rest of his life. “He is extremely brain damaged, with very little cognitive capacity, and will need care for the rest of his life,” he told WLS. Belgio is seeking damages of $50,000, plus costs, per the lawsuit.

“This is a man who deployed. He ran into burning buildings, and you thought he was out of the line of fire, and really, he wasn’t,” Stayer told the outlet.

“He’s one of the rarest people you will ever meet in your life. He was a God-fearing man. Success to him was having a family.”

Loved ones paid tribute to Belgio in a GoFundMe fundraiser, calling him a man who has “devoted his life to protecting others,” including serving in Iraq during his time with the Marines.

Meanwhile, members of the Cicero Fire Department, which Belgio used to work for, have launched the Joe Belgio Recovery Fund to further help aid his recovery.

“Joe has continued to show meaningful progress, but he urgently needs specialized inpatient neurological rehabilitation to keep moving forward,” the fund’s website states.

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Stayer, meanwhile, hopes to raise awareness of his plight.

“I want people to be aware that this could happen to anyone,” she told WLS. “This was a casual day with a casual man at a restaurant that he wanted to celebrate life with his family, and life can change so quickly.”

PEOPLE reached out to the Joe Belgio Recovery Fund, Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse and Supreme Lobster and Seafood Company for comment but did not immediately hear back.