One Family's Story

I share this story with permission from a mom on a quest to recover from a severe mold exposure in their home.

My husband had a heart attack at the age of 46. My then 11-year-old suffered from gallbladder disease and at the age of 12 had it removed. My 16-year-old son had "fatty liver" and was told his liver was like a 60-year-old alcoholic when he hadn't ever touched alcohol. He had severe nosebleeds and learning problems even though he was very intelligent and advanced as a child and young teen. He suffered from anxiety and occasional anger and he continually gained weight. One of our daughters had severe stomach pain, migraine headaches every day, eyesight problems, memory problems, and at its worst, at age 17, woke up and couldn't read, write or talk. She was in more or less a zombie state. I had asthma so severely at night that I would wake up from a sound sleep gasping for breath.

The trail of doctors didn't have any answers as to why all this was happening. They ordered more and more tests and insisted they were all separate incidences. One doctor even accused me of causing the mental trauma in our youngest daughter.

My husband and I had always prayed together, but on the verge of a complete breakdown, we sat together one night and pleaded with God to reveal what was going on. In answer to our prayer, God said that it was "chemical in nature." We went to bed that night wondering what on earth that meant.

The next morning, my husband decided to go down to the crawl space to hook up a furnace and found black mold growing on the underside of the floor sheathing, and there was moisture on the plastic on the ground. I immediately looked up symptoms of mold on the internet, and we all had multiple symptoms. Our youngest had the most. Out of 100 symptoms, she had all but 8 of them. We knew this was the problem and we knew that God had revealed it to us! We checked our most severely affected children's rooms and found mold growing in the carpet padding. They lived in the basement of our house and the concrete wicked moisture into the pads. It was growing in an outside wall of our bedroom. None of it was visible from a normal living view. It was all hidden from our sight, but just as deadly!

Not knowing what to do, and because of the lack of medical insurance and the mounting doctor bills, we researched the internet on how to eradicate the mold ourselves. As anyone knows that researches the internet regarding mold, there are conflicting reports of what to do. I checked at the environmental protection agency in our town and was told that they do not have anything to do with mold anymore. We put a fan in the crawl space to dry it out and with that spread the mold spores throughout the entire house.

Several people offered our family homes to live in, either free or at reduced rent, but all of the homes had issues that prevented us from moving in. We all ended up living in one room of a motel. Through trial and error, and many, many hours of research, we found that we couldn't keep anything that was in our house. Everything had to go! My husband, who is a builder, found a mold remediation company that was willing to walk him through the process of "safely" completely gutting our house and making it "livable" again.

Insurance would not cover any of this. We used all of the money we had and could make, trying to "fix" the problem so we would all be healthy again and return to a "normal" life. We had to take our kids out of the school because it too had mold issues. The school knew we had mold issues at home, so blamed the mold on us and refused to offer teaching assistance for our children. I was too sick to fight the system. I couldn't work because I was too sick by this time, and also too tied up with trying to keep the family from falling apart physically and mentally. (We also have multiple chemical sensitivities.)

Our good friends are still our friends and basically understood, but so many people couldn't figure out why we just didn't get on with life. Our lives were and are turned upside down, with no end in sight. Our children, while much better, especially with memory and intelligence/brain function, still suffer from digestion problems and body aches and pains, and still can't go in certain places without being affected.

Some days are really hard, especially when it pertains to our children's health, but most days aren't as hard as they once were. Not because our struggle isn't still there, but because we are used to the struggle.

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A Single Mother's Plight

I have one last story to share before Christmas that will tug at your heart. This is a single mother with two children living in public housing. Her story illustrates the need for political awareness in the area of toxic mold. She saw our story on CBN.

"It was like someone was telling my story. I almost dropped to the floor. I thought only I am going through this and it must be in my head.

I've been noticing things that have been happening to my children and I for many years. First it was the coughing, lack of balance, and shortness of breath. Then it was headaches, lightheadedness, achy limbs, sensitivity to salt, and sugar, severe stomach aches. Then, my kids kept getting infections, flu like symptoms, and gastral problems. My kids and I have taken pain relievers for the headaches, antacid for the stomachs, and a change in our diet to what we can tolerate.

My kids complain about different symptoms on a daily basis. We have been to every doctor you can think of for each symptom with no help. I knew something in this house was what was making us sick. People thought I was crazy and stressed out. I have complained to the landlord numerous times with really no success. I am a single mom and I want the best for my kids. They go to a great school and live in a great neighborhood. I live in public housing and I fought to be placed in a decent neighborhood with high standard schools.

I have been going through illness after illness for many years. Then the bomb dropped. I was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma stage three. During that time I was severely ill. I could barely breathe, I ached, and had other symptoms. My tumors were in every area that I complained about for many years. The burning throat and chest discomfort and the gastral problems.

I know whatever is in this house played a part in this but I just can not prove it.

My kids' health has gone downhill. My oldest daughter was very healthy when we moved into this house eight years ago. She has had numerous symptoms but the most severe have been bad headaches, dizziness, severe fatigue, sensitivity to salt, heat especially if it is humid, and fainting. She has been diagnosed with asthma especially when she is active.

My younger daughter always complains about her stomach. I see signs of depression, lack of energy. We all are very very tired. Sometimes we wake up tired, like we never went to sleep. Sometimes it is hard for my kids to go to sleep because we ache so bad. Two days ago we all went to the store to shop. I had intentions of going to several stores. I ignored my daughter when she said she did not want to go because she was too tired. I ignored her because I thought it was teenage laziness.

My kids still go to school but they struggle with learning because of their unexplained symptoms. Sometimes I feel like a bad mother because I do not know how to fix it. Sometimes we cry together because we all feel so hopeless. I can not wait until the day I see my eight year old and my twelve year old back to their old selves again.

I know there is mold in this house and I really do not have the finances to do anything about it. I finally convinced the health department to come out to see. I do not know what good that is going to do. I just want you to know I appreciate you speaking out because now I do not feel so alone. When I do find out what it is, and if it is mold, I want to do something about this to make sure no other family goes through this."

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Kinship

Since our story aired on Wednesday, I have heard from numerous people in similar situations. It does not cease to amaze me just how many of us find ourselves in this position. It remains unfathomable to me that our political and medical communities remain virtually unaware of the dangers of toxic mold. Here is one of the stories. (Used with permission.)

"I just watched your story on CBN. So familiar to us and what we are going through right now.

We started to suspect mold last fall. We left for a mini vacation and some of my symptoms let up drastically. We stayed with family in December when my symptoms were keeping me from getting out of bed. Again, my symptoms let up some. Everyone was telling me I was stressed or it was depression.

I was so angry that I went home and took a hammer to my walls. The plywood was wet and the window parts were rusted inside of the walls. We built our home in 2006 in Yorkville, IL. Our builder made so many mistakes, but the biggest mistake was that they didn't install our windows correctly.

We never found a lawyer to take it on, of course the insurance company didn't help, and we let the house go. As of December of this year it was purchased by someone. I can only imagine it was an investor who will patch it and resell it. I contacted the county, the state, and others, but the house was still put up for sale with no disclosures. As much as I researched, I just didn't find the right information in time. I was very out of sorts and had trouble thinking straight, so I'm going to blame it on that I guess.

Unfortunately, we never tested. My body and my children's health was deteriorating. This much we did know. The house sat for 9 months until the bank took it back. The last time I entered, I was extremely sick within minutes to say the least. The hardest part at this point almost a year later is that all I want is my children well again.

We have moved a couple times already this year and also had to get rid of both of our cars since the mold was so bad from being in our garage. The money is gone from just trying to replace simple things and some of the necessities.

I never thought we would be at this point, but it sure has opened our eyes to the important things in life.

My kids have improved in some ways which is a blessing. My oldest daughter used to throw up almost every night and also in the car. She was having hormone changes at age 6. My middle daughter has breathing problems now and reacts to something new almost every week. She had mold growing under her new mattress. She used to stop breathing while she was sleeping in our old house and hallucinate. At least it seemed that way to me. My son was born in that house. He has allergies now and sensitivities also. They are so young, I'm not always sure they understand if they are feeling bad or not.

My symptoms started 3 years ago now, I was told I have a demylinating disease. At that point, I still didn't know it was mold. After many tests they found that I have an optic nerve delay in both eyes, which of course is from my exposure. All our symptoms are. I started juicing, went on a gluten free diet, and made some other healthy changes. I was trying to help myself with my symptoms without the drugs the neurologist gave me.

Just the other night I was thinking about how this year has been an emotional roller coaster. I heard your husband describe the same feeling. God bless your family, it means so much to me to have met you. I wish it would have been in different circumstances, but this is where I've been brought in my life now. And I know it was for a reason."

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High School Mold Controversy

Imagine this scenario. Your teenage daughter gets sick with mysterious symptoms. After careful research you take her to see a mold specialist. The specialist implicates your daughter's High School as the source for the mold exposure. The district conducts testing and determines the school is safe. You are convinced the testing is inadequate. You ask permission to pay for more specialized testing. The school district refuses.

This drama is being played out in Roswell, New Mexico. Paul Taylor sued the school district in the fall of 2008, asserting that mold contamination made his daughter seriously ill. He was not suing for money, but for the right to have Goddard High School tested properly. In May of this year a judge ordered the school to allow Mr. Taylor to conduct the testing. The results were made public on September 22nd.

"Laboratory results and photos show Goddard High School to be a heavily water damaged building or 'sick building' as the terms are sometimes interchangeable. Taylor’s experts report that some of these indicators include mold growth in the air conditioning system and within the breathable airways, inadequate maintenance of the exterior building envelope over a period of many years, multiple avenues of water intrusion in the exterior building, evidence of prolonged and continued water exposure throughout the school interior, evidence of microbial growth on interior surfaces and within the air conditioning system, evidence of respiratory irritants and cancer-causing material (asbestos fibers) in the airstream pathways, and evidence of ineffective attempts to repair and or mitigate moisture and water intrusion problems within the school."

Penicillium, aspergillus, and stachybotrys were all found. The inspection report states that conditions are present at GHS to support continued mold growth. The report further states, "A single mold spore that colonizes can produce billions of spores. When the colony is threatened (disturbed and/or dessicated i.e. dries out) the colony disperses its spores as an episodic event."

The report offers an educational opportunity for anyone interested in learning about air quality issues. Mr. Taylor has created a website complete with reports and photographs.

Paul Taylor's Website with Inspection Reports

I admire Mr. Taylor's perseverance. He asked for this testing more than a year ago. He paid for it himself. And he has helped educate those of us in the audience as we watch the drama unfold.

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