Couple Survives Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
911 Call Saved Their Lives
Nov. 17, 2005 — Bob and Helen Roy were fighting for their lives — overcome by carbon monoxide from the motor of a forklift inside their welding shop in Waltham, Mass.
Somehow Helen managed to call 911 on her cell phone.
"I don't even talk. I can't talk," Helen said. "My husband — we need help so bad."
Veteran 911 dispatcher Carol Condon took the nearly incoherent call.
"I knew that there were two people that were really desperate for help, but I didn't know what brought them to that point," Condon said.
Helen was almost impossible to understand. Carbon monoxide, which is odorless and colorless, starves the brain of oxygen, knocking out your senses.
"It'd be like someone drowning, and they cannot get out the information that needs to get out," said Dr. Chris Holstege, director of medial toxicology at University of Virginia.
"I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm sorry," Helen said.
Finally after 10 excruciating minutes, Bob got on the phone. He was able to tell Condon their address. He knows he was lucky to be able to get that information out.
"I didn't have the conversation skills to stay with them," he said from the hospital. "I was out of it."
But it was the key tip officials needed to find them, saving their lives with no time to spare.
Bob and Helen Roy should be out of the hospital today.
Avoiding Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
The best way to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning is to buy a detector for your house.
If you think you are suffering from symptoms of poisoning — headache, dizziness, confusion — get fresh air immediately. Open up a window as soon as possible. |
