Susans Toxic Mold Story #5
- Posted by admin on July 9th, 2007 filed in Toxic Mold Stories
- 5 Comments »
I’m here writing this because there is a part of me that still clings to the hope that my nightmare of toxic mold will one day end. I am only one voice and so far have experienced over and over again, not being heard or being dismissed by doctors, an insurance company, my local health dept, the State Dept of Health, My local Red Cross and numerous other organizations, institutions that all respond with. We don’t deal with issues of toxic mold. My story starts with living and raising my 4 children in my country home that sits on 5 acres that is now uninhabitable. There is an $800+ a month mortgage payment on a house we can’t live in and the insurance company doesn’t cover mold. The cost for remediation is far too costly to afford so the house just sits there while I try to figure out some way to resolve this nightmare.
I can no longer work due to chronic ongoing health problems, COPD, fibromyalsia, emphysema, and I am only 44 years old. I lived for 4 months with an extremely painful rash on my stomach, went to countless doctors begging for help/relief because I had no idea what could be causing this rash. I had biopsies done and were sent to a lab that came back inconclusive. This was after 3 months of getting very little sleep, due to the pain that seemed to get worse each day. When I mentioned the possibility of toxic mold to the dermatologist, he totally dismissed my comment and said that mold doesn’t cause rashes. I have no idea just how many doctors I saw within that four months still unsure what I was dealing with until someone suggested having air testing done after my 7 year old daughter had her first nose bleed at my kitchen sink. This was the last time my daughter stayed in our home. Between the rashes my children would break out in whenever they were in our home and the rash I had that never went away, I had the air and surface testing done and the deadly toxic mold was found under my kitchen sink where my daughter got the nose bleed. There were high levels of mold throughout the house and we had to evacuate our home immediately. The was the second time that I’ve experienced this kind of loss. The first was when my parent’s house burned to the ground and all of our family memories with it. The difference between that experience and this one is that people did reach out then and now after this experience and reaching out for help over and over again with no results it leaves me feeling more helpless, more devastated and broken. Heartbroken, I sit here with a lump in my throat just wanting to go back to the life I knew before all of this when I was raising my children in the only home they have ever known, when I was healthy and could play with the children and could plant in my garden and tend to my home.
To those of you who have experienced the pain and agony and the devastation you feel at having to tell your children that they can no longer live in their home, when you close the door not knowing when if ever you will return and how you are going to financially afford it, my heart goes out to you. I wish I had one answer for us all. I go to my old home and stand outside and grieve with the longing for home, for God to make a way for us to go home. I hope that one day there will be some good to come from this and quite honestly right now I searching for what it could possibly be. I am grateful that we got out of there with our lives because I know there are those who haven’t been as fortunate. The last five years have involved one loss after another starting with my sister and her death from lung cancer, my father being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a pending divorce, the loss of our home and my health.
At this point I am searching for hope and doing the best I can to cope with life as I know it now.
After in excess of 400 phone calls to get help, I still have received no direction on what to do. I would like believe that there is something I can do, somewhere I can turn to get the help I need and any suggestions would be a blessing. Please, those of you that are feeling the same sadness, frustration, longing to go home know that you are not alone and I am waiting for prayers to be answered.
5 Responses to “Susans Toxic Mold Story #5”
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July 9th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Hello, sounds like you can use some help hee. Please, know that you are not alone. Feel free to contact me at any time, I will try to help you, and also visit my website if you become a member, send me a personal email on there: http://www.moldenvironment.com and my email is moldenvironment@yahoo.com
I have many resources on the website that may be of some help for you with the mold situation.
Respectfully,
Darlene
July 9th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
There are a couple of good sites on the web for info.
Consider living in a large tent or camper on your property while you decide what to do if weather allows.
My ordeal began 7 years ago. Since then I have discovered that every doctor I used had a conflict of interest, as did the lawyers I contacted. They are heavily invested in real estate, are related to realtors, are related to the attorneys who happen to either be invested in real estate or working for landlords/insurance companies, etc.. I found four instances of this among the 10 or so docs I used, those are just the ones I can prove. The other docs don’t want to take on the COI doctors or be involved in litigation.
In your case, it is unlikely that you will get legal representation. You should not give out personal information about you or your family as if you proceed to litigation, the defense will use it all against you.
Some of the symptoms I had were face rash, eye problems, ear aches, nose bleeds, flu-like symptoms, digestive upset, uti’s, alzheimer’s symptoms, sinus infections, fatigue, dizziness, muscle aches and pains. Most cleared up to some significant degree after leaving, but I remain sensitive to many things.
Check out the two sites below and you will find useful information. Good luck and remember to take control of the situation. Document everything, pics, journal, etc.
http://www.schoolmoldhelp.org/
http://www.mold-help.org/
July 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
We all want our homes to be a sanctuary from the world, or just a place where we are physically safe and secure. Often times we don’t think about the safety in our homes, we just plain and simply take it for granted. Sometimes unless we are faced with the catastrophic loss of our housing, or other crisis that requires us to look more closely at the situation. We usually look at the presumptions that our homes are safe, until faced with information to the contrary.
There are many housing issues in this country, i.e. scarcity of available housing, someone not being able to move because there is no place to go, or affordable housing in the region has a mile long waiting list, even the medically necessary waiting lists are very long for those deemed to immediately get out of their moldy (or unsafe for other reasons) living environment they are in at the present time.
Where have the set priorities on healthy housing, as well as housing availability and affordability gone? How can we gain a more complete vision of our potential as a community?
We could all choose to direct our energies to a prosperous and healthy future for all citizens if we were more healthy to do so.
Do we have the potential for this by coming together in fighting our odds as we stand today with our illnesses caused from these toxins that have destroyed our health, our lives, and our families? Yes, I believe that we do.
I am sure we all have the desire with the existing national community of persons ill from these toxins to join in with all the advocates that have been fighting for these same reasons for years, our rights to breath, our rights to safe environments whether it be our homes, our workplace or our schools.
Here today, I welcome all of you joining as members of my new website: The Nation’s Indoor Environment–Toxic Mold as another avenue to stand united, help one another with the support, understanding, and knowledge that we have all gained through our illnesses as mold victim’s. For today will never be the end of our endeavors, it will be the continued efforts joining together as a whole community.
Darlene Berube
Founder/Owner – MoldEnvironment.com
http://www.moldenvironment.com
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Susan: First you are not alone. Second I feel soooo bad for you. At least I have a home. There must be something that can be done. Try contacting Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker. He has a treatment program for mould victims that really works. I am living testamony. I am feeling much better just 3 months in. I will always live with a disability I fear but I am now feeling much better than I was. He is brilliant and has the name of several competent lawyers who fight mould cases for victims. Another such individual is Dr. Richard Lispkey. He is a lawyer that defends mould victims all over North America. Google either one or both. I realize you have no money but he will give you a lot of advise over the phone. There has to be someone you can go back on. Who sold you this house? Clearly there was misrepresentation on the sellers part. Was there a house inspection included? If so they were faulty. You need a home. Try going to Fifa and applying for a trailer through them. You are no different really than a Catrina Victim.
I know how you are feeling. I too am 44 and affected with symptoms of my mould exposure experience for life. I can no longer run and play with my 6 year old without an asthma attack. I have good and bad days depending where I go and what I get into. I am facing the possiblity of never working outside the home again. I don’t know how to face all that myself. I have no clue how to make it better. I do know this….we all need to stick together….I am a problem solver by nature….I believe we need to solve your problem….drop me an email….something just has to be possible if we don’t give up…..Jackie
March 19th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I am not quite sure when you posted your story, however, I have a very similiar story. My husband and I have done extensive research on mold as it was the cause of our declining health and attacking our “5″ son’s in more way’s than we can count. You can contact me at pjojeda97@aol.com
Also, you may want to check out this website http://www.themoldmissionary.org
I will say a prayer for you! And things can get better.
Jodi