'My cheeky little boys climbed into bed with me and went to sleep... but they never woke up'
Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
For single mum Vanessa Robinson, falling asleep beside her cheeky little boys Chase, eight, and Tyler, six, was a common occurence.
The youngsters often jumped into her bed in the middle of the night. And when they didn't, they would leap into each other's beds.
So when they came into Vanessa's room, crying, and climbed into bed with her eight years ago today, she comforted them with cuddles.
They all then drifted back off to sleep.
But heartbreakingly, Chase and Tyler never woke up.
Their mum, 37, did awake - but felt agonising pain and experienced every parent's worst nightmare as she looked across at her sons.
"I saw my children lying on my bed and knew something was terribly wrong," Vanessa, from Victoria, Australia, told Mirror Online.
(Image: Vanessa Robinson)
(Image: Vanessa Robinson)
Confused and barely able to move, she managed to call an ambulance and her ex-husband before paramedics attended the scene.
It was only later, while in hospital, that she found out Chase and Tyler had died from accidental carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
A gas heater in another room of her rental house had leaked the colourless and odourless gas, which she and the boys had inhaled.
While her sons lost their lives, Vanessa suffered acute CO poisoning and rhabdomyolysis, where damaged skeletal muscle breaks down.
She also had hypoxia and a dislocated shoulder. "They say that this was due to lying on the arm for so long being unconscious," she told us.
Now, exactly eight years on from the tragedy on May 30, 2010, the brave mum is fighting to raise vital awareness of accidental CO poisoning.
She has set up The Chase and Tyler Foundation , an independent charitable organisation that works to prevent such poisoning.
(Image: Vanessa Robinson)
(Image: Vanessa Robinson)
"The accident still feels like yesterday to me," she said.
"After the accident, people would say things to me and not realise their words were insensitive, such as 'You can have more children', 'At least they went quietly', 'They are with God now'...
"People don’t know what to say and they also want to see people fixed straight away and not suffering. As a bereaved parent, you are never fixed and there is no such thing as closure or moving on."
Little Chase and Tyler, who adored each other, enjoyed football, riding mini motorbikes, playing on scooters and watching TV.
"They were pretty cheeky boys who were always together and typically like boys, always fighting between each other," said Vanessa.
She added: "Tyler was a little shier than Chase and he adored his older brother when Chase wasn’t tormenting him."
(Image: Vanessa Robinson)
The day before the boys' deaths, Vanessa believes they were all watching films together - although she struggles to remember.
"I have memory problems from the accident," she explained.
It was in the early hours of the next day that Chase and Tyler climbed into her bed, in tears, before they all fell asleep together.
"Chase and Tyler were always jumping into my bed. If they weren’t in my bed, they were always jumping in each other’s beds," she said.
"I can’t remember what I said to Chase and Tyler. I just know they climbed into my bed as they were crying - obviously due to the CO poisoning - and that we were all together and went back to sleep.
"They never woke up."
Vanessa found out her beautiful sons had passed away while in hospital.
"I didn’t really know until after I woke up in hospital," she said.
"I don’t know if anyone told me prior to this, but due to the acute CO poisoning, I was not in a position to comprehend."
(Image: Vanessa Robinson)
She added: "I was hospitalised for a month and a half and then had a long time recovering from my injuries.
"I struggled to walk initially and couldn’t use my left arm or hand for quite some time... I needed help to dress me.
"The long-term damage is memory damage due to hypoxia and severe nerve damage to my left shoulder, arm and hand."
"I take a fair bit of painkillers every day. The emotional scars are the worst wounds of all, which will never heal."
When she was eventually discharged from hospital, Vanessa, who works in medical administration, moved in with her mum.
"I had no home, my children were dead, and I couldn’t look after myself due to my injuries, so I had to move into my mother’s home," she said.
"I was heavily sedated due to the physical injuries, as well as suffering post traumatic shock which was a blessing in disguise.
"If I had to face my new reality with full comprehension - which took over a year if not more - I feel I could not have survived.
(Image: Vanessa Robinson)
She added that there wasn't a carbon monoxide alarm fitted at her home in Mooroopna, north of Melbourne, when the leak happened.
"The only time I had ever heard of carbon monoxide poisoning was via movies when people died from intentional exposure within their vehicles," she said.
She had no idea that people like her sons could suffer carbon monoxide poisoning from their gas or fuel burning appliances.
Determined to save the lives of others, Vanessa set up The Chase and Tyler Foundation and Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week.
She also began lobbying Australian parliament for mandatory gas appliance servicing and CO alarms, and publicly campaigning.
"I knew that if I didn’t do anything, this prevalent issue within our community would soon become old news and nothing would change, and more people would die," she said. "I couldn’t let that happen."
She added: "I feel that if people can arm themselves with as much educational information as possible in regard to gas and fuel burning appliances, the better."
Vanessa recommends adding the below steps to your safety routine:
Annual servicing of gas or fuel burning appliances
Ensure adequate ventilation to run gas and fuel burning appliances
Install a CO alarm
Learn about carbon monoxide signs and symptoms
Taking to her foundation's page today, she said: "I would give the whole world to bring my children back, but that is never going to happen.
"The only thing I can do now is to keep pushing and never stop."
She told Mirror Online of her biggest regret following her sons' deaths.
She said: "The biggest regret I reflected on afterwards was that I was so busy with things that didn’t matter, which took away from actually stopping and connecting with my kids and sharing those special little moments such as jumping on the trampoline, putting Lego together or drawing."
"This is what matters. When my children died, everything else that I thought was previously important just did not matter anymore."