Lucky to be alive!
By Elaine Sheridan
A Dublin family say they are lucky to be alive after they were struck
down with carbon monoxide poisoning at a British hotel.
Four members of the Nicholls family from Crumlin were treated in hospital
after becoming ill soon after checking in to the Crowne Plaza Hotel on
Liverpool’s Princes Dock.
Pensioners Joe and Kathleen Nicholls along with their daughter Mags and
her nine-year-old son Nathan travelled to Liverpool over Christmas to
visit their newborn granddaughter.
Son Chris Nicholls — who has lived in Widnes for the past three
years — said the experience has unnerved the entire family.
He said the family had felt unwell ever since checking in on December
27.
But it was three days before the cause of the illness was diagnosed.
Chris said: “I knew there was something wrong when my sister texted
me to get some headache tablets because her and her son Nathan weren’t
feeling too well during the night.
“I didn’t see the text until next morning and went straight
to the hotel.
“When I got there she had literally collapsed and we called the
paramedics.
“She was taken to hospital but they said she just had a virus and
she was released the next day.”
In the meantime dad Joe and mum Kathleen were suffering from symptoms
of nausea, disorientation, headaches and vomiting.
Joe collapsed and was badly bruised. And both their conditions deteriorated
quite quickly.
Paramedics were called again and they too were admitted to hospital.
Chris said: “We knew it was something in the rooms because when
we went downstairs to the bar or lobby the nausea and headaches would
get better. But the hotel kept saying it must be some sort of bug or virus.
“They just gave us water and told us there was nothing wrong with
the rooms. They wouldn’t accept any responsibility whatsoever and
even charged us for the rooms.”
All four members of the family were initially treated at the Royal Liverpool
University Hospital before being taken to a hyperbaric unit at Murrayfield.
They were cared for in specialist high-pressure chambers where they needed
high levels of oxygen to aid breathing.
Hospital medics found high levels of poisonous gas in the Nicholls blood.
All four were released and are safely back home in Dublin but the whole
experience has left them badly shaken.
Chris said that unfortunately the family didn’t see much of baby
Marcia during their visit but that he and his wife Jennifer plan to go
home to Dublin for a week’s holiday very soon.
He said: “Now we realise just how bad it could have been everyone
just feels lucky to be alive.”
Hotel spokesperson Stephen Roberts said: “Initial investigation
cannot rule out the problem would appear to have arisen from a boiler
above the room in which they were all staying.
‘However as part of the hotel’s regular maintenance program
the boiler was checked and certified in November this year by gas inspectors
and issued a full safety certificate.
‘The local authority fire office, police and Transco have carried
out extensive investigations and confirmed that this was a localised incident
and that the hotel could continue to operate without further disruption
or risk to guests and staff.
“Both the gas and medical authorities have said the hotel can continue
to operate. No other guests have been involved and the hotel is functioning
normally.”
|
