A colorless, odorless killer nearly poisoned a Springfield woman to death.

In KSPR's first Medical Miracle Report, doctors explain how they brought a woman back from the brink of carbon monoxide poisoning.

In June, Elaine Brinklow's basement flooded several inches.

She hired what she thought was a licensed plumber to pump out the murky water.

Instead emergency responders say the plumber pumped deadly levels of carbon monoxide into her home.

Brinklow called her husband to tell him something was very wrong.

"I said I don't feel good I think I'm having a stroke.” Brinklow said, “He asked why and I said I can't walk straight."

Brinklow’s husband says after the brief conversation the phone suddenly went dead.

“My husband panicked.” Brinklow said, “He didn’t think to call 911.”

Her husband did call the couple’s daughter Angela Boyts.

Boyts says, "He said something was wrong with mom and to get over to the house right away."

Boyts found her mom and the family dog, Scrappy Doodle, unconscious inside the home.

CoxHealth Hyperbaric Wound Physician and Safety Director Patrick MacMillan says, "She had severe exposure from a generator."

Brinklow says she had no idea the plumber put a generator inside her home or that the generator was pumping in carbon monoxide.

"The doctors gave her a 3% chance of living.” Boyts said, “They said of that 3% if she did survive she'd likely be a vegetable.”

"The high levels of carbon monoxide in her blood attached to her hemoglobin.” MacMillan said, “She could not transport oxygen to her lungs or any of her tissue."

Brinklow’s family couldn't accept the grim diagnosis.

They put all their hope in a hyperbaric chamber.

"It looked like something on T.V.” Boyts said, “I thought what are you putting my mom into."

MacMillan says, “It displaces all the carbon monoxide off the hemoglobin much faster."

MacMillan says being inside the hyperbaric chamber will make a patient’s ears pop much like flying on an airplane.

He says depending on a patient’s consciousness they will feel heat going in and then cold coming out of the hyperbaric chamber.

After three immediate treatments once every eight hours, Brinklow’s dangerous carbon monoxide levels dropped.

Boyts says, "When she wrinkled up her nose I knew."

Boyts says she knew she had more time to spend with her mom and Scrappy Doodle.

Boyts says, “She could complain, she could tell me what to do for the next 30 years and I'll just grin and bear it."

MacMillan says, "At the levels she had and how she came out of it yes I'd consider this a medical miracle."

Brinklow has made a full recovery but doctors says she's lucky.

Doctors say if carbon monoxide poisoning doesn't kill you, it can cause memory loss or symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.

Doctors say carbon monoxide poisoning is something to think about during the winter months.

CoxHealth’s Hyperbaric Wound Center has treated people who use generators, BBQ grills or other unusual means to stay warm.

Doctors say carbon monoxide detectors are the best way to prevent poisoning.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache, nausea and dizziness.