Mitchell, SD – One family in Mitchell is lucky to be alive. The Miller’s home filled with carbon monoxide last week, making them so sick, they were barely able to call 911.
Their home is safe now and the family of four has recovered. But returning home, wasn’t as easy as you would think.
“You know, you ask yourself the ‘what if’ questions. What if I hadn’t woken up? What if I wasn’t here? What if I was traveling for work? Allan Miller explained.
The Millers are asking a lot of those questions lately. Allan Miller woke up last Monday morning and thought he was having a heart attack. His wife Laura collapsed in the hallway.
“Thinking that it’s affecting both of us equally, no fire, no smoke, it’s probably carbon monoxide and at that point I called 911, Allan said.
You can’t see or smell carbon monoxide, and without a working detector, you may never know something is wrong, until it’s too late.
“I was amazed how much it altered your mind, because I barely remember anything after I collapsed,” Laura Miller said.
“And I just think if someone were to have carbon monoxide poisoning like we did, I don’t know if Allan wouldn’t have been there if I would have been able to call 911, or get out the door or go down and wake my children up.”
They spent the day in the hospital on oxygen. Their house was ventilated. The family dog, Bella, was checked out by a vet.
“He showed me her gums and they were purple. And he said that was because of a lack of oxygen,” Laura explained.
And the family returned home, something easier said than done.
“Especially our youngest daughter, trying to help her feel comfortable with coming back into the house, and really all of us had that same experience. But that’s again where those carbon monoxide detectors came in, Allan explained.
They now have four detectors in their home, including one in every bedroom.
“Our youngest, I’ve seen her look at the detector, so you know that that’s her piece of mind, knowing that we’re safe,” Laura said. Allan says he does the same thing every night before going to bed.
It’s a small price to pay, to make sure this never happens again.
“It’s hard to shut your mind off when you think of ‘what if.’ But like Allan said, we’re so thankful to be here and we know we’re here for a reason. And we’re here to tell people, go out, don’t be complacent and get those detectors, or check them, Laura stated.
Firefighters found an extremely high level of carbon monoxide in Allan and Laura’s bedroom: 600 parts per million. To put that into perspective, firefighters use their oxygen tanks at a level of 35 ppm.
The Millers believe their boiler is to blame. They don’t know how long it was broken, but the faulty part has been replaced.
As for any symptoms, Laura said she was having bad migraines for the past few months, but didn’t think much of it because she’s struggled with them all her life. She hasn’t had one since last Monday.
The family is feeling better but say they have to check in with their doctor because it can take up to a month for the carbon monoxide to leave their bodies.