First Alert, a safety product producer, will help with the event. The Lindsey O’Brien Kesling Wishing Tree Foundation will fund the event in memory of Lindsey O’Brien Kesling, who volunteered with the Boys & Girls Club while she was a student at IU.
Kesling died of carbon monoxide poisoning in her Scottsdale, Arizona apartment in November 2010.
“Kesling fell victim to a silent killer,” Scottsdale Fire Marshal Jim Ford said in a press release. Carbon monoxide poisoning can be difficult to recognize, he said, because its symptoms — nausea, headaches, dizziness, weakness, chest pain and vomiting — resemble those of non-fatal illnesses.
Carbon monoxide detection devices can bring attention to the problem, but 90 percent of homes in the United States do not have them, Ford said in the release.
“Losing a child for any reason breaks a parent’s heart, but losing them to something that could have been prevented makes the loss so much heavier to bear,” Lindsey’s mother, Dot Kesling, said in the release.
Every year, carbon monoxide poisoning not linked to fires kills more than 400 people and sends more than 20,000 to the emergency room, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kesling’s family created the Lindsey O’Brien Kesling Wishing Tree Foundation to raise awareness about carbon monoxide poisoning and its prevention. The Wishing Tree Foundation provides funds for performing and visual arts projects as well as the annual CO awareness event at the Boys & Girls Club.
First Alert will sell carbon monoxide detectors at a 20 percent discount at the event.
Cora Henry
