Men awaken from coma

The families of Barialay Momand and Faisal Asef are calling it a miracle.

After carbon monoxide poisoning left both men in a coma, Momand, 20, and Asef, 18, are awake. It’s too early to determine whether either suffered brain damage, as is likely, hospital officials said.

While they were still in comas, “I ask doctor are they going to be all right. He said there is almost no chance,” said Momand’s brother, Kahar Momand, who speaks English as a second language. “He said nobody knows when they are going to wake up; it’s possible they are going to be in coma for many, many years.”

Both men – refugees from Afghanistan and students at Spokane’s Rogers High School – were found unconscious Dec. 6 inside a vehicle in the Momands’ one-car garage at the Westfall Village apartments in northeast Spokane.

Apparently the friends had been working through the night to fix Barialay Momand’s car after a small accident a few days before, his brother said.

“It seems it got too cold for them, and they decided to turn on the engine to get warm inside,” Kahar Momand said. The garage door was closed, and the men were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes.

About 12 hours later, Kahar Momand went to the garage for antifreeze and discovered the two men unconscious in the front seat of the car with the engine still running. The car’s doors lock automatically when the engine is running, so he had to break a window to pull his brother out before calling 911.

“I pulled him out the back seat,” Momand said.

They were taken to Deaconess Medical Center, where they were treated in the hyperbaric chamber – a treatment that allows patients to breathe high levels of pure oxygen while lying inside a pressurized chamber – and sent to the intensive care unit in critical condition with a grim prognosis.

“When they opened their eyes everybody said this is a miracle, this is impossible,” Kahar Momand said. “I asked first to my brother, you know me? Then, do you love me? He said yes.”

Kahar Momand said his brother may not have known the risks associated with running a car inside a closed garage, and it appears he is not alone.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 15,000 people a year are treated for accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, which spikes during the winter months.

“The most common time of year is when people are trying to stay warm,” said Greg Jones, the director of the Deaconess Regional Hyperbaric Center.

Home heating systems are the leading cause of carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States, followed by vehicles that are left running in garages. Gasoline-powered generators that are used during power outages are another common cause.

Carbon monoxide is often referred to as the “silent killer,” because it is colorless and odorless. Carbon monoxide molecules are shaped similarly to oxygen and bind to the receptors carrying oxygen to the red blood cells. The carbon monoxide then displaces oxygen from the victim’s blood.

“Despite oxygen in the air around you, you can’t transport oxygen from your blood to the organs,” Jones said.

Early symptoms of poisoning are often like the flu, with headaches, dizziness and body aches. Extreme exposure causes sleepiness and eventually renders a person unconscious, affecting the brain and heart.

“Once a person loses consciousness the more unconscious they become, and they are no longer able to regulate breathing or may have a seizure,” Jones said.

Research shows that people with severe carbon monoxide poisoning typically suffer some level of permanent and irreversible brain damage, Jones said. Damage could be subtle, appearing years later.

While Momand and Asef are awake now, each may have varying degrees of brain damage, hospital officials said. It is still unclear how long they were exposed to the fumes.