Near Canby, OR- A carbon monoxide leak nearly killed a couple and their cat in a home on South Lone Elder Road near Canby.
Now they’re sharing a potentially life-saving message, reminding people to install carbon monoxide alarms.
“If I would’ve passed out,” Kendra Platt said, “we would both be dead right now.”
She and her boyfriend, Steve Roberts, were at home when carbon monoxide, an invisible, odorless, toxic gas, started leaking from a water heater.
“I had a headache on Sunday night and I have headaches sometimes so I didn’t think much of it,” said Platt, “and I woke up a couple of times throughout the night feeling pretty sick. The final time I woke up was at 10 a.m. my cat was acting erratically so I put her outside.”
Platt, feeling woozy, fell down.
She then went to the bathroom where Roberts was taking a shower to tell him something was wrong.
“He turned off the water,” Platt said. “He got out and then he fell pretty instantly.”
Platt called 911.
“When I stepped out to dry off that’s pretty much the last thing I remember,” said Roberts. “Next thing I knew I was in the ambulance getting an IV put in me.”
Roberts and Platt were taken to Providence Medical Center in Portland and put in special hyperbaric chambers.
“They flood your body with oxygen,” said Roberts. “That breaks the bond of the carbon monoxide and the red blood cells and just flushes it out of your system.”
The two spent the night in the hospital going through three sessions in the chambers each.
They were released on Tuesday.
“The carbon monoxide leak must’ve started sometime around midnight,” said Roberts. “I did a load of dishes right before I went to bed and our on-demand water heater’s exhaust system failed.”
They’re grateful they survived and that Roberts’ daughter was at her mother’s house at the time.
They admit they owned an alarm but hadn’t installed it.
“Get carbon monoxide detectors now,” said Platt. “Don’t put it off!”
“Definitely, they’re cheap and they’ll save your life,” said Roberts.
Oregon law requires detectors on each floor of a home you rent or sell that has appliances that can give off carbon monoxide like wood or natural gas stoves, heaters and water heaters.
Firefighters recommend you test your detectors regularly and follow instructions when you install them.