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'Blessed to still be alive': Des Moines siblings survive carbon monoxide leak

The siblings Reda Stajcar and Kenny Ayers are beyond grateful their lives were saved by their heroes.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A Des Moines brother and sister are lucky to be alive thanks to the quick thinking of a firefighter, a dispatcher and an electric company who rescued them from a near-deadly carbon monoxide leak. 

The siblings Reda Stajcar and Kenny Ayers were beyond grateful their lives were saved by their heroes when carbon monoxide levels peaked at 220 parts per million. 

On Thursday, the brother and sister honored Des Moines firefighters, MidAmerican Energy and ADT Emergency Dispatcher Kathy Taylor for saving their lives. 

Taylor actually flew 1,000 miles from Florida to meet Stajcar and Ayers in person. 

The siblings honored the Des Moines Fire Department with $5,000. 

Stajcar described the scary moments before the rescue. 

"At first I just thought it was something, something wasn't right. Something tripped off my alarm," she said. "I didn't really think too much of it because I'd been sleeping for a few hours by then, but once hearing everything and how lethal the levels were... I felt blessed to still be alive." 

Be on the lookout for symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, because it can be deadly. Those symptoms include headache, dizziness and chest pain.

Also, check your carbon monoxide detector twice a year to make sure it's working properly. 

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