Young Wife stops to watch maneuvering crop sprayer and is hospitalized within 24 hours

Upper Fraser Valley of British Columbia

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In the late summer of 1985, Melanie Elliott routinely began her day as the sun rose.  Her first chore was to attend to early morning laundry tasks however she became discourage that field dust prevented her from hanging out bed linens to dry in the early morning sun.  The remainder of the day was spent harvesting and preparing food for storage.  Her husband worked as  a firefighter in a nearby community - his working hours frequently consisted of four consecutive 24-hour shifts.  On one of  her husband's longer work shifts, she decided to leave the farm property and chores to join her family for a picnic in a community about 70 miles away. She felt the family picnic would give her a break she well deserved.  After a good night's sleep in her rented farmhome she was up at dawn and looking forward to the drive through the valley.  She took her time to enjoy the sights and smells of passing farmlands. Midway to her destination she saw a small aircraft spraying large corn fields.  She was fascinated by the ability of the aircraft and stopped the car (a convertible) to watch how the airplane maneuvered between electrical lines.

  She enjoyed the picnic and recreation that continued into the wee hours of the morning.  She awoke late in the morning but despite the restful sleep, she felt too unwell to drive home alone.  A friend drove her home, but before reaching the farmhouse, it was obvious that she was very sick and her friend took her to the emergency department of a hospital.  This young woman slipped into a comatose state and has never returned to her previous level of function.

  What went wrong ????  Was this woman exposed to Carbofuran (Furadan) while watching the airplane spray the field from her open car or could it be that the fields surrounding the rented farmhouse became a source of the toxic exposure.  After a lengthy hospitalization this woman was discharged with a diagnosis of toxic encephalopathy (a term meaning a sickness affecting the brain) --- many of her symptoms mimicked those attributed to the exposure of Carbofuran (Furadan).  Once again, due to the complex picture that was presented upon entering hospital, an analysis of fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord was not completed in the initial and crucial stages of her illness.  Today , this woman remains a mere wisp of her former self.   She experiences many cross disabilities and requires the assistance of twenty-four hour attendant care.