By RICHARD WALKER
T&D Staff Writer
A red bird.
For some reason perhaps known only to Anthony, he wanted to give her a red bird for Christmas 2005. But before that day arrived, Anthony and dreams of red birds and new birds would be gone.
“This year has been like pure-T hell,” Tammy Hoover says. “I don’t know how else to put it.”
Today, she tells her story partly out of therapy. But she also wants to warn others of a killer that gives no warning, offers no mercy, respects no one.
It was Dec. 18, 2005, the day the new beginnings ended and the hell began. A generator was left running, filling the home with gas fumes. It was the day Anthony succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning and Tammy barely survived.
“You know you hear things like that, and you think, ’They must of been stupid,’” Tammy says.
But the deadly incident began innocuously enough – an ice storm struck the Upstate, knocking out power across the region, including the Hoovers’ new home.
The Orangeburg County natives had moved only three weeks earlier when Anthony was offered a construction job he couldn’t turn down. It was this promise of a bright future that caused the family to move to Anderson.
On Dec. 15, however, the ice storm struck the upper portion of South Carolina and western North Carolina, shutting down power to 250,000 people.
With the high temperatures throughout the day hovering below freezing, the Hoovers took their children to stay with relatives near Neeses before returning to the arctic conditions in Anderson.
Meantime, Anthony was loaned a gas-powered generator. Fully aware of the dangers, the Hoovers would only use the generator for brief periods of time. But that was all it took.
On the evening of Dec. 17, Anthony started the generator for a few minutes just before going to bed.
“He said, ’I’ll just cut it on long enough for you to get a shower and us to get warm,’” Tammy said.
Tammy laid down on the couch with Anthony. That was the last she remembers for certain. The rest is a daze.
At some point around 12:30 p.m. Dec. 18, emergency personnel were summoned by a neighbor. At the Hoover’s residence, EMS found Anthony.
But Anthony was already gone. Carbon monoxide ended the 38-year-old’s life.
Tammy says she was as lifeless as Anthony when EMS found her as well. At the time, she felt as if she were having a death or near-death experience.
“I was dead when they found me, I watched them carry my body out,” Tammy said. “It was like I was out of my body, and I was kneeling.”
During her dream-like state, she heard a voice she believes was God speaking to her, explaining to her that Anthony’s time had come.
And then she saw Anthony. He was speaking with God, asking that Tammy be allowed to stay with the children. Then she heard Anthony saying to no one in particular, “She’s going to be OK.”
“I went to go grab for him, and that’s when he faded. That’s when I woke up,” she said. “And then I heard them saying, ’He’s gone.’”
The 34-year-old mother of three was now alone with three boys.
And the struggle isn’t easy. In addition to the heartache, there is the physical pain. Sitting or standing for periods of time hurt.
She was placed in a pressure chamber twice for high doses of oxygen.
Currently, she sees a doctor at least once a week. She’s had to re-learn simple motor skills like holding a fork or a pen.
Then there’s the memory loss, likened by some doctors to Alzheimer’s Disease. She remembers some things clearly, then forgets a doctor’s appointment, forgets to eat.
“Tammy died, she died that day,” Tammy said. “I’m a different person.”
And in order that others may live, she tells her story, warning of the dangers of carbon monoxide.
More than 500 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning. Seven people, including Anthony, died in the Upstate ice storm in 2005.
The Journal of the American Medical Association says carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the United States.
Colorless and odorless, carbon monoxide poisoning can happen within a matter of minutes. It’s a gas that enters the body undetected as a person breathes.
The deadly gas is a by-product of burning wood, coal, charcoal, gasoline, propane, oil and other common fuels. It can also be produced by gasoline or diesel engines, like generators.
“I’m going to survive this, I’m going to survive this,” Tammy said. “People have got to know about this.”
A year after the tragedy, Tammy didn’t have much holiday spirit for Christmas cards or making merry. The memories that remain are too painful, the daily physical struggles are too much to bear. With no real income to speak of, she faces mounting medical bills.
Her boys, however, pulled out the Christmas tree, straightened the garland and decorated the Pine Hill home where they’ve lived for the past six months. The boys even began baking.
And when they dusted off the decorations to place on the Christmas tree, Tammy found a memory, a treasure. A gift.
Tammy found her and Anthony’s first Christmas tree decoration from a decade ago – a red cardinal.
“You know those people, they say they’ll die for you? That’s not what we’re to do,” Tammy said. “We need to live for them.”
T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.