A Quebecer who saved his life and that of seven members of his family in spite of himself from fatal carbon monoxide poisoning implores the population to acquire a device to detect this sneaky gas.
“I’m glad to be alive and everyone is alive, but I can’t stop thinking about it and it traumatizes me. We came so close to dying, the whole family ”, breathes on the end of the line Tommy Gagnon, 38 years old.
The resident of Drummondville went on December 23 to his hometown of Port-Cartier, on the North Shore, to spend New Year’s Eve there at his mother’s house. His brother, with his two children aged 2 and 8, and his sister, with his children aged 2 and 4, were also present.
A few hours after his arrival, no house in Port-Cartier had any power, while the “meteorological bomb” hit the region hard. On the morning of December 24, Tommy’s brother, Marco, was able to get his hands on a generator from his employer.
“We installed the generator outside and we put small electric heaters in the house,” explains Mr. Gagnon, who was then far from suspecting that this was going to risk the lives of his entire family.
Photo courtesy of Tommy Gagnon
The hero (top right) next to his brother Marco, his mother, Guylaine, and his two daughters, Rebecca and Aria, reunited for Christmas.
They would have all been there
Despite the breakdown, the children unwrapped their gifts and the adults were able to have a drink with the family before going to sleep around 10:30 p.m.
However, what no one knew was that the wind was probably pushing the fumes from the generator under the mobile home.
Around 3 a.m., Tommy Gagnon woke up because he was “really not well”, with, among other things, violent headaches. He then went to the bathroom, where he lost consciousness and had a bad fall, hitting his head.
This woke Mr. Gagnon’s mother. “She was hysterical because she thought I was dead, and she in turn passed out. She shattered her back and suffered two vertebral fractures. »
The noise also woke up his brother and sister-in-law Jade-Élodie Lebrasseur, who in turn got up with symptoms.
Marco in turn fainted quickly, and Jade-Élodie, the last one still conscious, was able to call the paramedics in extremis, who transported all the family members to the hospital, where they were safe and sound.
Firefighters who were also called to the scene detected a toxic concentration of carbon monoxide in the house. This odorless gas can kill sneakily while sleeping.
“If he [Tommy] had not woken up and that he had not fallen. We would never have woken up, argues Ms. Lebrasseur, still in shock. my youngest [enfant] was soft and it wasn’t all there. »
Photo courtesy of Tommy Gagnon
Tommy Gagnon had to spend the day with an oxygen mask in the hospital.
“It can save lives”
As soon as the stores reopened, the family immediately went to get a carbon monoxide detector. She recommends that Quebecers do the same. “It takes that today. It costs nothing, it’s about forty dollars and it can save lives. »
Detectors that are not popular enough
The adoption of a Quebec law requiring the installation of a carbon monoxide detector in all homes “should be considered”, according to the director of the Center antipoison du Québec.
“Each time there are major power outages, we really have an increase in exposure to carbon monoxide,” explains Maude St-Onge, medical director of the Center antipoison du Québec.
The Center has identified 65 suspected cases in the past week, including two deaths, as thousands of Quebecers had to heat themselves with gas generators, among other things, to survive outages that often lasted several days during the winter storm. .
Normally, about fifteen cases occur each week in Quebec.
An unpopular detector
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, no carbon monoxide detector is installed in more than half of poisoning cases.
This device can save lives, however, because carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, and because the symptoms it causes can resemble those of the flu, such as headaches and vomiting.
“I think there’s definitely still a lot of work to be done to promote it,” said Dr.D St-Onge.
The credibility enjoyed by the devices is still to be done, since those who had the detector and who were intoxicated saw their device ring in 80% of cases.
“Sometimes the detector rings, but people unplug it thinking it’s faulty,” she says.
She says that a law to make it mandatory across Quebec “deserves to be considered” to avoid future tragedies.
“It is already something that we have proposed to certain municipalities, which has not been systematically endorsed for reasons that I do not know. »
The Poison Control Center recommends anyone who thinks they have symptoms of carbon monoxide to call them at 1-800-463-5060 for a risk assessment and basic advice.