What happened weeks ago to a family of six in Fenton Township in February has changed their loved ones’ lives forever.
The Quasarano family was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning inside their own home.
The heart-breaking deaths of 35-year-old Len Quasarano, his 39-year-old wife Heather and their children, 11-year-old Luke, 9-year-old Brenden, 7-year-old Rachel, and 2-year-old Grant, have also had an impact on people across the country.
Since that time, those close to the family are turning this tragedy into a triumph.
“We want to save lives, there’s so much that is unknown,” said long time family friend Nicole Caroen. “So many people have machines and equipment in their house that will emit this toxic gas and they need to know that these will save lives.”’
Caroen has since started The Q Project - Q for Quasrano. One of the main goals is to buy enough CO detectors for every home in the Fenton area.
They have support from people in other states.
First Alert, a company in Chicago, has donated 300 detectors to the project and the Chicago Fire Department has sent them 1,000 detectors.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” said Len’s father Phil Quasarano, “My wife has hand-written 2,000 thank you cards to the people that we know of, addresses that we have. This has gone far beyond.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for The Q Project as well.
The hope is to educate the public of so many things people need to know about CO detectors and carbon monoxide.
“A lot of people don’t have them,” said Nicole. “We are finding that most people who have gotten in contact with us thought that they had them, but they really don’t have them. There are combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, but unless it says carbon monoxide right on there, they are just smoke detectors.”
Family members told 7 Action News they hope to prevent someone else from going through their heartache.
“I’m no one in this world,” said Phil. “So these things happen to me for a reason, where they took my son, his wife, and all of my grandchildren. That was really hard, but to know that in all of this tragedy, good things can happen. This makes it - I wouldn’t say worthwhile, but bearable.”
A fundraiser will take place at the Leo’s Coney Island restaurant in Fenton in a few weeks.
