By Chad Livengood – Daily Telegram Staff Writer
RAISIN CHARTER TWP. – Dovelyn and Tina Waynick have been discharged from the hospital after surviving deadly carbon monoxide levels leaked from their indoor pool heater early Monday morning.
The Waynicks, whose son, Devin, was released Monday afternoon, are back in their home and now have a carbon monoxide detector installed, Dovelyn Waynick said Tuesday.
The family survived carbon monoxide poisoning after Dovelyn Waynick, 36, known as “Dove,” woke up early Monday morning to find his wife, Tina, 30, and son, Devin, 10, unconscious.
“Something woke me up,” he said. Waynick, feeling weak and dizzy, and not knowing exactly what was going on, said he dragged his son and pregnant wife out of their house on 4487 Waynick Drive in Britton, he said Tuesday.
Waynick said he isn’t sure what caused him to wake up. Firefighters later found carbon monoxide levels exceeding 1000 parts per million. Two hours of exposure to 800 ppm of the poisonous gas can lead to unconsciousness in 45 minutes and death in an hour, first responders said.
Dove Waynick said he can’t explain where he got the energy to carry his family to safety. “I don’t know. I can only thank God for it,” he said.
At one point, Waynick said he recalls thinking there may be a gas leak. “It dawned on me basically when I went upstairs and our son was lifeless. And at that point I don’t know what it was but as I was trying to gather some of my thoughts getting him down the stairs, I did think it was a gas leak and I had to get those guys out of the house,” Waynick recalled.
The family was taken to Herrick Memorial Hospital after firefighters arrived at the house at 6:37 a.m. Monday. Tina Waynick was transported to Toledo Hospital, where she received three treatments in a hyperbaric chamber.
The chamber pumps high-pressure, 100 percent oxygen into the body and forces the carbon monoxide from a person’s hemoglobin in their blood, said Tina Waynick, a registered nurse at Herrick Hospital, who is seven months pregnant.
She said doctors performed an ultrasound, and there do not appear to be any side effects from the carbon monoxide she inhaled during her pregnancy.
“They think that it should be OK, but there aren’t any studies on it,” Tina Waynick said, “Most of the studies are on adults, and they don’t have any studies in pediatrics.”
During the ordeal, while the family was lying outside on the lawn after Dove Warwick called 911, his son regained consciousness and strength and comforted his father by saying, ‘Dad, it’s going to be OK,’ ” Tina Waynick said.
Waynick said she is just thankful to be alive.
“I thank my husband, he’s my hero, he saved my life,” she said