An App Saves Lives

[Kathianne]

http://abc7chicago.com/health/app-saves-lives-at-birthday-party-after-carbon-monoxide-leak/501991/


SOUTH LYON, Mich. --

A sweet 16 party in Michigan had a not-so-sweet ending after a carbon monoxide leak - but it was a smartphone app that kept the party from turning deadly.


Bria Spalding's mom did not know anything was wrong when she woke up with a headache over the weekend.


Some of the girls who had spent the night for her daughter's birthday party started leaving because they felt dizzy and nauseous. The family assumed it was food poisoning.


The birthday girl entered her symptoms into the "Triage" app on her smartphone, and it told her to go to the hospital immediately.


Firefighters say the home's furnace was leaking life-threatening levels of carbon monoxide into the house.


A carbon monoxide detector might make for the perfect birthday gift this year.

[Kathianne]

I think this hit home because years ago we had a 'small' CO2 leak in our home.

One weekend we had a flood. My husband went under the crawl to try and salvage some things. He bumped the aluminum tubes from the furnace and tried to put them back together.

Our youngest son, a newborn was progressing rapidly, then suddenly stopped. He started sleeping more, eating less. He began losing weight. Neither of us remembered about the tubing or whatever it's called.

Meanwhile, we had 3 kids under 4 and were working on selling our home, which went on the market and closed in 3 months. During those months though, the baby kept getting smaller and more lethargic. The other kids and dogs though were fine, as were my husband and myself. About two weeks before the closing the pediatrician diagnosed him with 'failure to thrive.' I was devastated. So, daily I hauled the kids to my mom's and would ask her to help with the older two, while I tried to keep the baby awake and nursing as much as possible. After a few days, it worked! He was eating more and staying awake for longer periods. As soon as we went home to get dinner ready, he would nap. Like most of the night. (D'oh!)

Still the pediatrician was glad that he was gaining. After we moved, he really started staying awake and gained weight rapidly. He also stopped sleeping through the night. LOL!

Two weeks later, the pediatrician said that we better call the new owners to check for CO2 leak. Sure enough! They too had a new baby.