Mother brings awareness about carbon monoxide poisoning

It's been almost a year since Jeannie Williams lost her son Jeffrey Williams to carbon monoxide poisoning while staying at a Best Western hotel in Boone in April 2013.
 
The room they were in didn't have a carbon monoxide detector because it's not required by state law.
 
"We were in the room maybe 30 minutes -- less than an hour when I passed out," Jeannie Williams said. "According to levels, they said he probably didn't survive much longer."

Williams is working to make sure her son’s legacy survives by spreading the word about portable carbon monoxide detectors.

"(It's) a message to get people to know especially during vacation time to take a carbon monoxide detector with them," she said.
 
Through the Jeffrey Williams Foundation, she's trying to get the devices everywhere to warn about the colorless, odorless and lethal gas.
 
She is pushing for laws requiring more detectors in hotels, restaurants and dormitories.

The goal is also to educate students in local schools.

“If he or she sees mom or dad putting a generator in their room, (they should say), ‘Hey, wait a minute. I learned we're not supposed to do that,’” she said.

The mission keeps Williams going and she is grateful for those who've comforted her family.

"The amount of love people showed and the care, I will never forget," she said.
 
Investigators say Daryl and Shirley Jenkins died in the same hotel room just two months before Jeffrey Williams.
 
Police blame a faulty pool heater installed under the room.
 
In February, a grand jury indicted the company's president and hotel manager Damon Mallatere on charges of involuntary manslaughter.

WSOC