FOUR members of a family are lucky to be alive after their north Cornwall home became filled with potentially fatal levels of carbon monoxide.
Liz Boult, 34, her sons Charlie Prewett, 7, and Ollie Prewitt, 4, and her partner Richard Harris, 36, were taken to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
A wood-burning stove is thought to have produced the potentially lethal CO levels.
Inhaling the colourless, odourless gas reduces the blood's ability to carry oxygen.
Ms Boult and Ollie were treated and later discharged from hospital, but Charlie and Mr Harris were treated in a hyperbaric chamber at the nearby Diving Diseases Research Centre (DDRC).
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said the amount of CO detected in the house could have killed the family within minutes and an investigation is taking place to find out what caused the problem.
The barking of the family's pet bulldog Polly probably saved their lives.
The dog had barked because it wanted to go outside. Liz Boult got up to let her out but then heard Ollie convulsing and having fits.
She was feeling dizzy herself and cried out for Richard. He also felt ill as he got up and then heard Charlie hit his head in the bathroom.
Mr Harris found Charlie on his knees crawling in the bathroom so he managed to pick him up and go down the stairs and outside.
"Ollie woke up and he was crying and when I went into the bedroom he was having fits. We heard a thump in the bathroom which I went to see, and Charlie was on the floor fitting as well.
"We couldn't get him to respond," said Ms Boult.
Mr Harris said: "I collapsed. I couldn't move a muscle. We sat there, Charlie was fitting on the floor, there was nothing I could do about it. It seemed like a lifetime we sat there. I then just got some strength and picked him up and carried him out. If it wasn't for that I don't know what would have happened."
"They didn't know they were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, they thought they had flu," said Liz's mother, also called Liz Boult and who runs a cleaning company nearby.
"They called the NHS Helpline and were told to get out of the house."
It was a very cold night and they got in the car and waited for an ambulance to arrive at 1.45am.
Dr Christine Cridge, the DDRC's medical director, said the family was "very lucky" to survive.
"Richard's a big hunk of a man, but when he found Charlie unconscious on the bathroom floor, he was so weak he could hardly lift him," she said.
"Thanks to prompt treatment, Richard and Charlie are doing really well."
It is not clear whether the family pet detected the gas, or was barking because she was unwell.
"Although I'm not a vet, maybe Poppy was being affected by the gas herself because animals are smaller," Dr Cridge added.
The family moved down from Bristol into the rented property only two weeks before the incident to be near Ms Boult's parents.
Ms Boult said they were waiting for a report from Cornwall Council who were investigating the property to find out what had caused the emergency.
"After what has happened I don't feel we want to go back. We could all have died, and then I think how bad it would have been if we had lost the boys. It is too terrible to think about."
