Graham.
Don't want to be a party pooper but ......
Please read this ....
Roland Wessling, lost his partner Hazel Woodhams, from carbon monoxide poisoning while they were on a camping holiday after a charcoal barbecue was brought inside their tent over night.
In July 2011, the couple went on a camping and canoeing trip together, to the Norfolk Broads. On their way the couple stopped to buy a small charcoal barbecue. It only cost them around £15 and was just big enough to cook for two people.
On the day that Hazel passed away the couple had been canoeing along the broads. On their way back to the campsite they bought some sausages to cook on the barbecue. They finished their dinner around 8:30pm and spent the rest of their evening reading, until around 11pm. At this time they cleaned up their area and moved everything from outside into their tent. The barbecue had finished burning. They brought this inside so that it wasn’t stolen or rained on during the night.
The next morning, Roland can recall waking up in lots of pain. He couldn’t move one of his arms, he was dizzy, disorientated and could barely move. He had no idea what the time was or what had happened to him. After a few minutes he managed to look over to Hazel who he realised at this time, was dead. She had foam around her mouth and when Roland tried to open her eyes and wake her she made no response.
Roland called out for help, for what seemed like hours. Still in extreme pain and unable to move, he managed to locate his phone and call 999. He couldn’t remember where he was, so the emergency services were trying to encourage him to leave his tent. After about ten minutes he managed to crawl out of his tent – it was only a few feet, but he was in so much pain that even this was a struggle. Luckily an off duty police offer was passing by and managed to help call the ambulance and police.
When the police arrived they arrested Roland for attempted murder: “Being arrested for murdering the one person I truly loved was the worst moment of my life. Hearing those words were heartbreaking and for just a split second I even feared ‘what if I have?’ I was so disorientated and dizzy I had no idea how I got into that state or what had happened to me. When they took me to hospital I was so dehydrated from the poisoning, they struggled to take my blood as they could not locate a vein. In the end they had to take nail samples to test me for drug taking. The police stayed with me in the hospital until the results came back that I had been poisoned by carbon monoxide (CO).
“The police immediately retracted the arrest. Looking back, I don’t blame them at all for arresting me and they were extremely apologetic for having to when I had just lost Hazel.”
Roland was in hospital for four weeks. The first two weeks he was in intensive care. One of his arms was badly affected from the CO poisoning – it inflamed to twice the size. The hospital debated whether to amputate it, but in the end they cut it open and had to leave it exposed to relieve the pressure and swelling. Roland had eight operations in total – two to open up his arm and six to close it back up again. He also had to undergo a blood transfusion, after one of the operations caused him to bleed heavily. He was taken into hyperbaric champers three times to have pressurised oxygen pushed into his tissues and blood, which is treatment for severe CO poisoning.
“I was off work for five months but my rehabilitation is still ongoing today. I had to have 65 stitches removed from my operations. I suffered from severe limb trauma. I’ve had physiotherapy and hydrotherapy and all while I’m still trying to come to terms with losing Hazel. I’ve taken over 10,000 pain killers in one year and my arm is still very painful. I hope by Christmas my body will be 90% recovered.”
“Camping feels like a home away from home for most people and as a result, they feel safe using their own equipment and belongings. The last thing people want to think about when they arrive at a campsite is setting up a CO alarm or checking the ventilation of their tent. They want to unpack and pitch up as quickly as possible, so that they can relax. Both Hazel and I have science degrees. We were both working in forensics, but neither of us even considered an unlit and cold barbecue would let off CO which could kill. More needs to be done to raise awareness of the dangers of CO so that no more lives are lost.”
Surprised at lack of comment on caravan industry economic issues.
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