Kevin and Annette Shanahan nearly died in their living room, just steps from their front door.
If not for the unusual actions of a family pet, the two say they wouldn’t be here today.
On Feb. 4, the Shanahans were hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a Reedsburg Police Department report. They were taken to Reedsburg Area Medical Center and treated with oxygen before returning to their Willow Street home.
Carbon monoxide often is associated with lethargy, and victims have died in their sleep. But peaceful slumber was hardly the symptom experienced by the Shanahans.
Frantic knocks
Kevin said the couple went to bed around 10 p.m. while their adult children showered and headed out for the evening. At around 1 a.m. Annette said she stumbled out of bed and dropped into a chair in the couple’s bedroom.
People are also reading…
“I thought I was having a heart attack. It was so painful,” she said.
She felt weak and struggled to breathe.
A few minutes later one of the family cats, Gracie, started fussing and banging on the door. Annette said it’s odd behavior for Gracie, who normally keeps to herself and never begs to enter the bedroom.
Kevin said he heard the noise and decided to check on Gracie. He said he felt sick when he stood up and then noticed his wife in the chair. She was wide-eyed and staring into space, he said. Her body was rigid and her arms were wrapped tightly around her chest.
“Then I knew something was wrong,” he said.
Kevin said he helped Annette down the stairs but both were exhausted by the time they reached the living room. Somewhere in his mind, Kevin suspected carbon monoxide so he opened a window. But both were so confused they didn’t consider going outside.
“Your mind is so foggy. You can’t think,” he said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. You can’t put a thought together.
“We were right there,” Kevin said, indicating his doorway. “We were that close to fresh air. We were five feet from it.”
Annette said they used a cell phone to call both their son, Taylor Schmidt, and 911. Taylor wasn’t far so he made it home to help move his parents outside. Police and ambulances arrived within minutes. MedFlight was called for backup and the Reedsburg Fire Department was dispatched to test for carbon monoxide, according to the report.
It was a relief, said Annette, considering they could barely speak or think when they called for help. Annette said she vaguely remembers mumbling “we can’t breathe” and repeating their address.
Taylor was also treated for carbon monoxide as he’d been exposed to it earlier in the evening and during the rescue, according to the police report. The couple’s daughter, Morgan Schmidt, reported feeling strange earlier in the evening but felt better after she left the home. She did not require medical attention.
At the scene Kevin told officers about Gracie waking him and how she saved their lives. The statement was added to the official report.
Making changes
The Fire Department found 620 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide on the second floor of the home. Normal levels vary from .5 to 5 ppm, or 5 to 15 ppm for dwellings with gas stoves, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Poisoning symptoms begin around 70-ppm mark.
Readings showed 240 ppm on the main floor of the house and 150 ppm in the basement, according to the police report. Alliant Energy was called to assist.
According to the report, carbon monoxide built up due to a frozen flap on a vent to the hot water heater.
Annette said they had one carbon monoxide detector but it was 15 years old and didn’t react. Once the Shanahans had recovered Kevin said he headed out to buy a new water heater and four modern carbon monoxide detectors.
‘Please be breathing’
The Shanahans had another concern waiting when they reached home: Finding Gracie and the family’s 2 other cats. The Sauk County Humane Society located one, according to the police report, but the others were nowhere to be found.
Ming, a young black female, made it easy for responders. The curious cat doesn’t seem to fear strangers and approaches to sniff, rub and beg for a scratch behind the ears.
Gracie, a long-haired 9-year-old female, and Emeril, a long-haired black male, were another story. Annette said both are skittish and hid when the officers and paramedics arrived. Emeril appeared not long after the Shanahans returned home from the hospital but Gracie was still gone.
Annette decided to check the basement when she saw a bit of fluff behind a storage bin. She said her heart sank.
“I said, ‘Please be breathing,’” she recalled.
She said she reached around the bin and picked up a docile Gracie. After a few minutes of being held she leapt out of Annette’s arms and took off up the stairs. Gracie never did like to be held, she said.
“Without her obviously we wouldn’t be here,” she said.