- When Tracey started feeling sick, she never expected the cause to be hidden inside her home.
- A gas engineer discovered the gas heating unit mounted on the wall in Tracey’s bedroom, was leaking poisonous carbon monoxide.
- For months, Tracey had been breathing in high levels of deadly carbon monoxide while she slept.
Here Tracey Condron, 45, tells her story in her own words.
Stumbling through the hallway, my head spinning, I clutched the wall as everything went black.
Waking up on the floor just seconds later, I gasped, ‘I can’t believe it’s happened again.’
Phoning the school where I worked as a classroom assistant, I told them I wouldn’t be able to come in – again.
It was August 2024, and in the past month I’d started feeling exhausted, as well as experiencing nausea and dizziness.
‘Maybe I’m deficient in something,’ I said to my sister, Sue, then 52, on FaceTime.
But it didn’t make sense – I was very active and healthy, working out and maintaining a busy social life, along with work.
Weekends I spent running around after my grandkids, Ralphie, then five, Maeve, one, and baby Oscar, six months.
I lived with my youngest daughter, Ramonae, then 19, and son Hussain, 25, and they could see a clear difference in me.
‘You look exhausted. Sit down. Let me get you a cuppa,’ Ramonae said.
Frustrated, I went to the doctor and was tested for anaemia. But everything came back fine.
As the months went on, the illness just ramped up. I even started collapsing at work.
‘I just don’t understand what’s happening,’ I sobbed to my eldest daughter, Shelina, 27.
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I kept going back to the doctor, even seeing different GPs, and each time they’d refer me for more blood tests, which revealed nothing.
As the symptoms progressed – horrendous headaches and itchy eyes – I became scared of going to see doctors, terrified they’d say I was dying.
I’d wake up most mornings with a swollen, puffy face. Tested for allergies, results showed that I was allergic to peanuts – I ate them almost every day.
But even after giving them up, the puzzling symptoms continued.
Some days I’d blackout in my room.
Waking up sprawled on the floor afterwards, I’d find I’d knocked down a whole shelving unit, but had no recollection of it happening.
By December, I was so depleted. I still dragged myself to work when I could, but most days I’d spend in bed.
And when I was out of the house, I was constantly taking painkillers to help manage the daily excruciating sharp pain that was in my legs and feet.
I spent Christmas at home, asking the family to come to me rather than my usual festive visits.
In early January, sitting in the lounge room and feeling horrendous, I glanced at the Christmas tree that was still out.
Then everything went black…
Waking up in hospital, covered in tubes, I saw the kids, my mum, Patricia, and sister, Sue, all sitting around my bed.
READ MORE: ‘I was poisoned by my own home!’
‘Water please,’ I croaked, so parched I was barely able to speak.
As a nurse fed me tiny teaspoons of water that I struggled to swallow, my family filled me in on what had happened.
My neighbours Steve and Jackie had been at home when I’d knocked at their door, begging for help, before passing out.
Paramedics had to resuscitate me twice before rushing me to hospital, where I was put in an induced coma for the next six days.
Test results showed dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in my blood.
A gas engineer was called to my rental house and, finding the deadly culprit of my illness in my bedroom, my family was immediately evacuated.
Horrifyingly, the gas heating unit which was mounted on the wall in my bedroom, was leaking poisonous carbon monoxide.
The carbon monoxide alarm wasn’t working either, but it still had a green light, making me think it was. For months, I’d been breathing in high levels of deadly carbon monoxide on a daily basis as I slept – even while ill and bedridden.
By shutting the door, I’d been trapping myself in with the noxious gas.
I’d been poisoned by my own house.
The seizures I’d suffered on the night I was admitted to hospital were so severe I was left with heart failure and a fractured spine, requiring me to wear a back brace.
‘You’re incredibly lucky to be alive. Just a few minutes of exposure to carbon monoxide can kill someone,’ the doctor explained, baffled I’d survived being exposed for so long.
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Scarily, when I was in the coma, I recall being somewhere with lots of bright lights and fighting to resist those lights, as I knew I would never see my kids again.
I must have experienced the afterlife, I realised.
After two more weeks in ICU, where I rebuilt some strength, I was discharged and spent a few weeks at Shelina’s before going home.
Despite the heating unit being replaced, being back was terrifying. I had panic attacks and, unable to sleep in my bedroom, slept in another room.
My mental health has taken a hit and I’ve experienced several more seizures which have led to more hospital stints.
Now I’m struggling with mobility and general day-to-day things like getting dressed and tying up my hair. Right now, I also can’t work, which is frustrating.
Life isn’t what it was before, but I know that I’m incredibly lucky to still be here at all.
My family keep me going, and when I see their smiling faces I know that I’m not enduring the dark days alone.
To contribute, search ‘Help save Tracey: Carbon monoxide poisoning nearly killed her’ on GoFundMe
