On the afternoon of August 13, 2016, a rural letter carrier for the United States Postal Service began to feel dizzy and nauseated as she drove and delivered mail on her route in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She was sweating profusely and then stopped sweating altogether. Alarmed, she drove to a house on her route belonging to a couple with whom she had become friendly over the years. The couple brought her inside to rest and called the Martinsburg Post Office to alert her supervisor of the situation. Her supervisor eventually arrived at the house and drove the rural carrier to a hospital, where she was admitted.