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Ed Yeates ReportingA 5-year-old nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Now his parents want to make sure something like this doesn't happen to anyone else.
Five-year-old Taylor Anderson is OK now, but it was touch and go for a while. His family rushed him from a boat on Utah Lake to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, and then he was flown to LDS Hospital for hyperbaric therapy.
The boat was not docked in the harbor. It was actually out in the middle of the lake. Taylor was simply jumping from the rear of the boat into the water when it happened.
Taylor and his mother had just gotten back into the boat when she heard a whining sound from her son. Jerilyn says, "And I turned around and looked at him, and his eyes started rolling back into his head, and he started to go into some convulsions."
His lips began turning white, he was vomiting and was slipping in and out of consciousness. Blood samples taken at the hospital showed the CO levels were at 22, which for a child his age was extremely high.
There was no wind on the day this happened. It was hot, and the boat was idling to recharge the battery.
Though Taylor was in and out of the water, he was close to a pocket of exhaust every time he jumped in. "It's happening to somebody else, and you never think it's going to happen to you, until it does," says Jerilyn.
For CO safety tips while boating, click on the related link to the right.
