Mom has warning for parents after twins sickened from carbon monoxide poisoning

ATLANTA — There are still some cold nights ahead in Georgia before spring officially arrives, and there’s a new urgency to warn families about a danger that pops up every winter.

Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer talked to a mom who didn’t know her kids were even at risk until they started to get sick.

The Cranmer twins are healthy 8-year-olds, but mom Kristen Cranmer told Stouffer about the day they started to feel sick.

“So headache, dizziness, and the third time he said he didn’t feel good, there was something in my mom gut,” Cranmer said. “I looked in his face and something didn’t look right.”

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The boys were suddenly experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.

“The second I opened the door, I was like ‘whew!’ We didn’t even enter the house,” Cranmer said.

Dr. Maneesga Agarwal said she sees way too many close calls in the emergency room at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

She said carbon monoxide detectors can save lives.

“If you are worried your child might have had carbon monoxide poisoning, please get them out and bring them to the emergency department,” Agarwal said.

She also recommends not using outside grills and generators as indoor sources of heat.

Through the Strong 4 Life initiative, the hospital recommends remaining vigilant for symptoms like dizziness and nausea, especially if they hit several family members at once.

“The exact same symptoms, they all started at the same time — that’s a clue that it could be carbon monoxide poisoning and not a viral illness,” Agarwal said.

Cranmer said she realized something important when firefighters were checking her boys out.

“Oh my gosh, that carbon monoxide detector been sitting on my dresser in my bedroom needing batteries and we just hadn’t put the batteries in yet,” Cranmer said.

Those batteries are now checked and double-checked in the Cranmer household.

“My house is my safe place for my kids, but it wasn’t safe because I didn’t have a simple detector for carbon monoxide,” Cranmer said.

Safety officials said you need to get a carbon monoxide detector for every floor of your house and always keep one near bedrooms.

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