Brush With Death Prompts Students’ Alarming Mission
One whiff of car exhaust nauseates Jason Adams. Gary Branson’s field of vision periodically shrinks to the diameter of a toilet paper roll. Headaches hit Monica Nelson so hard she feels as if her face has exploded.
They blame their ailments on carbon monoxide poisoning, which, they believe, nearly killed one of their roommates last October.
“No one said how close to fatal our dose was,” says Pete Wharton, a burly 20-year-old who collapsed into unconsciousness last Halloween.
Pete and his friends moved from the rented Coeur d’Alene duplex soon after they left the hospital. Now they’re asking city and state lawmakers to require carbon monoxide detectors in all rentals and new homes.
Fire officials aren’t sure that’s a great idea. City crews responded to 18 carbon monoxide alarm calls last year, says Chief Frank Sexton. Only one was an emergency. But he admits smoke alarms started shakily, too, and now save lives regularly.
The friends had furnace trouble from the day they moved into the duplex at the start of October. The rental agency sent a handyman who finally got the furnace working Oct. 30. The next morning, Jason, who’s 21, awoke sick.
He passed out in the bathroom, but was roused by another roommate, Brandi Ranauro. Brandi, who’s 18, was light-headed and couldn’t breathe. Her hysteria awakened Monica, whose legs gave out when she tried to run to Brandi.
Jason was as disoriented as a drunk, but instinct told him to get everyone outside. He yelled at the women, then ran to the basement bedrooms to awaken Pete and Gary.
“I thought they’d be dead,” he says.
Pete and Gary responded, so Jason bolted outside for air. Pete never made it out. He collapsed at the foot of the stairs and Gary couldn’t budge him.
Pete didn’t react to Gary’s slaps. Gary finally blew in his face and Pete opened his eyes.
By the time paramedics arrived, the roommates registered carbon monoxide levels of 19 to 27. Normal is 0-1.5. They were given oxygen and taken to Shoshone Medical Center’s hyperbaric decompression center.
Each of them spent two to four hours in the pressurized chambers that fit them like glass caskets. Oxygen was pumped into them to force out the carbon monoxide in their blood.
“I could see my best friend in the one next to me and see the doctors, but I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying,” Pete says, grimacing at the memory.
Gary, a waiter, and Pete, a chef, returned to work a few days later. Pete says he suffered the least of everyone because he was unconscious during most of the panic.
Brandi, Jason and Monica dropped out of classes at North Idaho College for the semester. They’d missed too many and say they had trouble paying attention.
They all say they worry about their future health. But their new house has no carbon monoxide detector yet because they can’t scrape together the $50 they need to buy one.
Maybe they won’t have to, if lawmakers pay attention to them.
Fabulous furniture
Los Angeles artist Joseph Somers gave a $2,700 chest of drawers to Grangeville’s Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School’s annual auction this year. Home magazine featured the classy chest last November.
It resembles a stack of vintage suitcases, with suitcase handles as drawer pulls. The auction starts at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Elk’s Lodge. Call 983-2182 for details.
Buzz cut
Coeur d’Alene High’s Kirk Leichner let a raffle winner shave his platinum blond hair to raise money for this year’s graduation party. Kirk has one annoying tuft left. Hope the sacrifice paid off….
What school stunts do you still talk about years later? Brag about them to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814; fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo