Trail crash leads to tragic end

[Guest guest]

Again here is where the doctors aren't up to the vast information

that is out there. There have been more than 2 people in the world

that had contracted mucor to this extent, I have been in touch with

six people myself. What is rare is that it is not normally diagnosed

until autopsy. But as you can see from what they put on this person

death certificate, no mention of the fungus.

KC

Trail crash leads to tragic end

By MARSHA DORGAN, Register Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 19, 2006 1:15 AM PDT

Napa Valley Register - Napa,CA

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2006/07/19/news/local/iq_3

522129.txt

Within a split second, life the way Carpol knew it was

gone forever.

The 59-year-old Southern California woman suffered massive facial

injuries when the van she was riding in was hit by a drunk driver on

Silverado Trail last December. Carpol was airlifted to Santa

Memorial Hospital, stabilized and sent on to the UCSF Medical Center

for major facial reconstructive surgery.

It was while she was undergoing a series of operations that an even

more horrific tragedy struck her. She contracted a a flesh-eating

fungus, mucor, that ate away the right side of her face, causing her

to go into cardiac arrest and die on Jan. 17.

The cause of death is " homicide vehicular: complications of multiple

blunt force injuries, " according to the final death report issued by

the San Francisco Medical Examiner.

The driver of the car, Jr., 23, of ville,

pleaded guilty last week to vehicular manslaughter while

intoxicated, with a special allegation of multiple injuries. He is

scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 26, and faces seven years in

state prison.

The crash happened on Dec. 4, 2005. Carpol, her husband Ron,

grandson Connor, 2, son-in-law, , and daughter , who was

seven months pregnant, were in the car. Carpol was driving the

rental van.

The family had just left Duckhorn Vineyards and were headed south on

the Trail, near Yountville Cross Road.

was coming the other way when his vehicle cross the center

line and sideswiped the van, causing the van to roll several times,

landing on its wheels.

" The sliding side door next to me was ripped off like a razor, " Ron

Carpol said. " Everyone was banged up. All of a sudden, someone

said, 'Where's ?' She had been thrown from the van and

landed on the grass and dirt. She was bleeding something terrible

from her face. She was unrecognizable. "

She was not wearing her seat belt, according to the California

Highway Patrol.

After she was airlifted to Santa , " We knew she needed major

facial reconstructive surgery. I got the best and most-renowned

plastic surgeon in the world to operate on my wife, " said Ron Carpol.

was transferred to UCSF Medical Center on Dec. 11. " She

was recovering, even walking around the hallways of the hospital.

The surgeon said it was no longer life-threatening, " Carpol

said. " Then three days later, my wife was in intensive care. They

told me she had contracted a fungus and there was no antidote for

it. Five days later the doctors told me the fungus was spreading on

the right side of her face and they had to remove her eye socket and

cheek. Half her face was gone, and they covered it with skin and

tissue from her stomach. "

A few days later, Ron Carpol was met by 's four doctors

when he came to the ICU.

" They told me she had a blood clot to the heart, which had stopped

the oxygen to her brain. They said it was hopeless. And on Jan. 17,

they stopped her life support, " he said.

Mucor is a very rare and severe form of the fungus. " The doctors

told me they there are only two other known cases reported in the

world, " Carpol said.

The fungus is often found in soil, dead plant material, horse dung,

fruit, meat, dairy products, animal hair and jute. It grows rapidly,

and once it attacks a human there is no known cure for it, according

to the Indoor Fungi Resources Web site.

Carpol believes his wife contracted the fungus when she was lying on

the side of the road in the grass. " She had a hole in the side of

her face the size of a 50-cent piece. We believe she contracted it

either through the air and/or the grass and dirt she way lying in. "

Although medical experts have not been able to confirm how

actually contracted the disease, Napa County Deputy District

Attorney Fred Gutierrez, who prosecuted the case against ,

said, " It has been speculated by doctors she came in contact with

the fungus at the scene of the accident. "

Deputy Public Defender Elia Ortiz, who defended , noted that

the bizarre fungus and Carpol's subsequent treatment for it raise

questions about whether her client caused Carpol's death. Ortiz

wrote in a court declaration that " She was taking experimental drugs

to the fight against the infection which doctors said in most cases

result in death ... the ultimate issue is whether Mr. 's

conduct on that day (of the crash) was the ultimate cause of

(Carpol's) death. "

As the justice system goes forward, Ron Carpol and his family try

desperately to cope with their loss.

" I never left my wife from the day of the accident. I have her

picture on the dashboard of her car which I drive. I have

personalized license plates with a heart standing for love. I am so

emotional about losing her, I can't hardly talk about it. It was

four months before I was able to handle the arrangements for a

memorial service, " Carpol said. " She was a beautiful woman. I don't

know if I will ever be able to cope with the grief and emptiness

that fills my heart and life every single day. "

The couple's daughter, , who was driving the day of the

accident, gave birth to a baby boy nine days after her mother died.