Port Huron Township, MI- Don and Kim Nichols appreciate life a little more these days after a scare sent their entire family to the hospital.
“We assumed it was just the flu, said Don Nichols.Our dog even passed out inthe front room.”
What they did not realize at the time is that it was something much more deadly than the flu.
Something when went wrong with the boiler, causing carbon monoxide to slowly seep into the home around 4:00 am a week ago.
Their 8-year-old daughter Jordan passed out while trying to grab something to drink.
“She may not have woke us up on purpose but she’s still kind of our hero,” said Don Nichols.
Don and Kim told 7 Action News they scrambled to get ready to take Jordan to the emergency room.
“When I got back to the top of the stairs I felt real dizzy so I sat down and that’s all I remember,” said Don Nichols.
Don had passed out and Kim called 9-1-1.
I was very scared because I was in a separate ambulance from my wife and two kids, said Don Nichols. I didn’t know how I was doing health-wise and it was a very scary thing knowing we were down there for such a serious thing not knowing how it affected them.”
Looking back, what scares them even more is not having a CO detector in their home at the time.
“I was so busy trying to get everybody out did really have time to think as bout anything, said Kim Nichols.I didn’t know the signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poising.
The Nichols’ 15-year-old son, who was not home at the time, also had to be treated for CO poising.
Port Huron Township firefighters suspect it had been in the home for a few days.
The family was treated at Detroit Receiving Hospital and are all okay.
The Port Huron Township fire Chief Craig Miller told 7 Action News the highest levels detected in the Nichols’ home were 1400 parts per million.
According to Miller, those levels were most dangerous he has ever seen.
7 Action News wanted to help them warn others: if you don’t have a detector, get one immediately.
“We’re very grateful, very grateful someone was watching over us that day,” said Kim Nichols.
“Just make sure everyone gets detectors, said Don Nichols.Be safe, because if we can get one family to go out and get a detector than they are here tomorrow.”
The Nichols have been spreading the word on the about the importance of getting detectors on social media.