SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Nansemond River High School senior said it was a normal day that turned into chaos last week.
Ashley Caldwell, a Nansemond River High School senior, said she was going to her next class when a sound startled her.
“It like fell and hit the ground,” Caldwell said. “The way it hit, it started to spin and get everywhere.”
Suffolk Fire Department said a student accidentally hit the fire extinguisher, and caused it to go off.
“It kind of startled me and I gasped and took a big breath in, which probably wasn’t the best idea,” Caldwell said. “Ended up inhaling more than I should of.”
It turned the halls into a hazy mess, and the particles she inhaled started making it hard to breathe.
“When I got to the nurse, I could not breathe at all,” she said. “I was coughing, light-headed, really not feeling good.”
After the fire department and EMS showed up, they noticed her oxygen was lower than it should have been, she said. Her mom came to pick her up and took her straight to the emergency room.
“They did an EKG and a chest X-ray. Everything looked good. There was some stuff that wasn’t great,” Caldwell said.
The hospital gave her a breathing treatment. She also went home with an inhaler.
She had a cough that persisted for a couple of days, but now she is feeling back to normal, just in time for Christmas.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.
