Mold and Marriage

It's common for one spouse to "see" something that the other spouse doesn't. This is especially true when it comes to mold. When we first discovered mold in our home, Chris and I were on the same page. Both of us believed the advice we were given. Mold is no big deal.

Slowly, I began to sense the opposite. I remained a step ahead until the day we left. This created a tension resolved only through Chris' unwavering belief in me. He was struggling to accept the reality about mold, but never questioned me as a person. In turn, I determined to believe in him despite his denial of the problem. I knew that his commitment to his family would win out over the invisible mold spores.

The morning after we left our home we talked with two mold experts. Chris heard them describe the facts about mold and the effects of mycotoxins on the brain. The doctor's staff get rashes simply from the paperwork submitted by mold patients. Clothing professionally cleaned 7 times still had remaining stachybotrys spores. Colonized fungus lives inside of those exposed to high levels of toxic mold. Chris and I found ourselves on the same page. But it was a different page than when we started.

Chris recently heard from a woman whose daughters are sick from mold. Her husband was struggling to support her desire to leave. I conclude with this excerpt of his response.

"Let me say this to your husband. You don't want any harm to come to your wife and your children. It's the last thing you would ever want to do. We stayed in our house almost 9 years and the different illnesses that came from our kids, beginning with food allergies, and ending in loss of hearing and vertigo, seizure disorders, skin rashes--we lost our two dogs to this--you don't want to look back and say, "If only I had listened to her." This stuff attacks the brain. It attacks the immune system.

Perhaps there is nothing to be worried about. Do the hard thing and let your wife vacate the house for a while to see if the kids get better. Trust me. I wish someone had told me this a few years ago. We wouldn't be living in Arizona in the middle of cactus and sleeping on air mattresses and sitting in camping chairs if they had."