He slept in the car he had just cleaned and suffered 90 percent vision loss

45-year-old Yasin Kurt, who was a marketing manager managing 300 personnel while living in Gaziantep, moved to Sakarya with his family 2 years ago after his company went bankrupt. In November 2024, while cleaning the seats of his car in front of his house in Sakarya, Kurt decided to wait inside the vehicle due to a sudden downpour. Kurt, who started his car and turned on the heater to dry the seats he had just cleaned quickly, fell asleep under the influence of the chemical vapor rising in the enclosed space. The unfortunate man, who slept inside the running vehicle for about 2 hours, inhaled the chemical gases emitted by the heater and the exhaust gas that had likely leaked into the car, which was an older model, while also suffering from low blood levels at the time. When he woke up, Kurt did not feel bad at first, so he returned home and took his routine shower. The next day, Yasin Kurt woke up with severe pain in his back and was rushed to the hospital. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was intubated. Kurt, whom doctors said, "He will not live, there is a 99 percent chance he will not wake up," remained in intensive care at the hospital in Sakarya for 2 days. After waking up in the ward, Kurt realized that he had almost completely lost his vision. Clinical examinations determined that as a result of the evaporation of cleaning chemicals exposed to high heat inside the closed vehicle and the carbon monoxide gas that leaked in, the oxygen and nitrogen in his blood were displaced, and Kurt suffered from severe "toxic poisoning."

Treatment process continues

Following the severe poisoning, Yasin Kurt, whose mobility was restricted and who lost his vision, moved to Eskişehir with his family to continue his treatment. Kurt, who underwent intensive cortisone treatment for 10 days at Eskişehir City Hospital, regained his motor movement ability to a certain extent. His vision, which had dropped to zero, was able to increase to 5 percent in his left eye and 2 percent in his right eye as a result of long efforts. Kurt, a 45-year-old father of two who is 90 percent visually impaired, stated that he has been working non-stop since he was 11 and has never given up on producing, and is now looking for a new job.

"It was determined that the oxygen and nitrogen in my blood were displaced and I suffered toxic poisoning"

Yasin Kurt recounted the beginning of the incident that took place in Sakarya in November 2024, those critical two hours inside the car, and the moments he fought for his life in the hospital with the following words:

"The incident happened in November 2024, it will be almost two years. The weather was overcast and it was about to rain. Since I love detailing, I started wiping the seats of my own car with cleaning chemicals. Just as women clean their homes meticulously, men do such detailed cleaning on their cars. Just as I finished wiping the seats, it started to rain. Instead of running into the site, I chose to stay in the car. I started the car and turned on the heater to dry the wet seats. Although I am someone who does not normally have sleep problems, I slept for about an hour or two in the car that day. At that time, I also had a serious drop in my blood values due to hemorrhoids. After waking up, I went home and took my shower; everything seemed routine. However, the next day, I felt a very severe pain in my back, as if two daggers had been plunged into it. I told my wife we needed to go to the hospital immediately. I couldn't guess what was happening to me or what I was experiencing at that moment. When we reached the hospital, they intubated me very urgently because I was no longer able to breathe. In the initial diagnosis, it was determined that the oxygen and nitrogen in my blood were displaced and I had suffered toxic poisoning."

"They said, 'There is a 99 percent chance he will never wake up again'"

Regarding the hospital process, Kurt, for whom doctors gave a 1 percent chance of survival, said, "I remained intubated for two days at Sakarya Research Hospital. The doctors told my family, 'This man will not live, there is a 99 percent chance he will never wake up again.' However, by the wisdom of God, my Lord granted me back to my two children. If He says 'be,' everything happens. When I woke up, at first I saw everything as pure white. There was a serious problem with my eyes, and I felt great pain all over my body as if I were being stung by hornets; my mobility was extremely limited. Since I had never been used to a hospital environment until I was 40, I couldn't stay there any longer and we returned to our home."

"If I can be active and productive, I will recover much faster"

Touching upon his current situation after the cortisone treatment in Eskişehir, his disability rate, and his desire to return to working life, Kurt said, "Later, we came here with my mother to continue the treatment process in Eskişehir. I received intensive care cortisone treatment for ten days at Eskişehir City Hospital. This treatment increased my mobility in my body to a certain extent, but my vision loss had dropped to zero at that time; I couldn't see anything. After the completion of the cortisone treatment, my vision began to return slowly. Currently, I have a vision capacity of 5 percent in my left eye and 2 percent in my right eye. This process shows a tendency to get better in the future. As a result, I am currently 90 percent visually impaired. I haven't been able to work in the year and a half that has passed; although certain situations like disability retirement have come up, I am only 45 years old. I feel much more productive and dynamic than 45. I am a man who loves to work and produce. I want to work economically, earn the reward for my labor, support my family, and achieve something for myself; I think it is too early to live my life passively. At this stage, since the therapeutic dimension is complete, I am mainly receiving vitamin-supported treatment. I can feel my body renewing itself, and I know that I am getting better every day. If I can work and produce actively instead of sitting at home or wandering around aimlessly outside, I believe that psychologically, this will accelerate my recovery process much more. Thank God, I am better today than I was yesterday, and I know I will be much better in the future. There are many situations that medicine cannot answer or where it is mistaken. People's physical structures and resistances are very different; I also have a strong structure, I am recovering, and I have full faith that I will get better and better," he said.