Survivor may face long-term ills

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Catherine Mormile was competing in her third Iditarod race in Alaska when she stopped at a tent along the route to change her wet socks. Minutes later, she felt nauseated. Hours later, she would be unconscious.

''I tried to stand up and I had to hold onto the frame of the tent," she said of her 1994 carbon monoxide poisoning from a propane heater in the unvented tent.

The 51-year-old physical therapist breathed the odorless gas for three hours. She said it took her years to recover. Her IQ plunged. She had to relearn skills such as reading and writing.

Randal McCloy Jr., the sole survivor of the Jan. 2 disaster at the Sago Mine, could face similar challenges as he tries to recover from more than 41 hours spent trapped inside the mine.

A state official has said 11 of his co-workers died from carbon monoxide poisoning, and doctors believe McCloy suffered some brain damage from his exposure.

''He is likely one of the longest survivors of this sort of exposure, not only carbon monoxide, but the other circumstances in the mine," Dr. Julian Bailes, a neurosurgeon treating McCloy, said this week.

Yesterday, McCloy remained in critical condition. He is still in a coma, and little has changed in several days. Doctors don't seem concerned that the 26-year-old hasn't fully awakened yet and say it could be a lengthy, gradual process.

Several doctors said this week they had never heard of anyone breathing carbon monoxide as long as McCloy and surviving.

McCloy was treated in a hyperbaric chamber last week at Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital. Doctors there said the therapy was a supplement to other treatments McCloy is undergoing, and the effects would not be immediately known.