Share Your Mold Story With Us.
- Posted by admin on August 24th, 2007 filed in Education
- 5 Comments »
If you would like to have your mold story posted here please write it within the comments and we will create a page for it. We need to get the word out that mold is a serious issue and the more people know the dangers the better.
5 Responses to “Share Your Mold Story With Us.”
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April 28th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Please help us get the word out. Due to Several Diseases as a result of Exposure we are Literally Trapped and Dying
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
From February 1985 until June 13, 2007, I lived in a house infested with mold and did not know of the dangers.
Three university professors who lived in my house from 1959 until 2000 also died suddenly, mysteriously, of lung cancer and of other rare forms of cancer.
I have survived to tell the story that some of the deadliest mold spores known to mankind were found in the basement of my house, yet I am unable to get my house condemned by the city, the county or the tax assessor.
I live in Atlanta, Georgia in one of the finest historic communities in the city, Collier Heights.
I need help.
I’d like to know what dangers mold spore
have on the human body and once you have ingested and inhaled mold, how do you get the mold out of your bloodstream?
Finally, as the former president of our neighborhood association, I have discovered that over the years, each home that had a mold problem, someone has died…yet our county health professionals are turning a deaf ear and a blind eye.
It’s OK to post my full name, address and email address. The more people know of the crisis, the better. I have lost everything. All of my personal belongings have been ruined.
To make matters worst, engineers dispatched by the city (2002-2005) discovered a sinkhole underneath my house.
If anyone has medical solutions, I am interested in learning more about the dangers of mold.
Lea O’Neal
219 Hermer Circle, NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30311-1103
atlcorruption@yahoo.com
August 24th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
My mother has been living in a mold infested house for at least ten years. She was suffering from serious medical issues and never knew what caused them. When she found out what it was, experts came to rip up carpet, tear down walls, install wooden floors, take down wallpaper, etc.
My sister, who lived with her until recently, suffered from health issues. As soon as she moved out, she felt better.
The mold was taken care of, my mother began to feel better, but now it is coming back. She had very little money and was struggling financially due to the doctor bills. She was uanble to work because of all of her illnesses. She finally started to get on her feet and the mold is back. She now has no option other than leaving her home which she has a mortgage on. She is struggling financially, physically, and emotionally. Insurance companies don’t care and will have nothing to do with it. If anyone has any ideas or has dealt with issues like this, any help would be appreciated.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
In May of 2000 our family of 10 moved from a small house in suburban Chicago to a 3 year-old 5500 square foot home in Monument Colorado. We chose Colorado for its beauty and proximity to my husband’s writing colleagues. A year later our 9th child was born. During the course of that first year I noticed a small brown spot on our eldest daughter’s carpet. At the time I thought nothing of it. Today I know it was our first indicator that toxic mold was present in our home.
As the years progressed we saw numerous medical issues arise. Our oldest daughter developed a severe allergy to nuts, another daughter was diagnosed with a seizure disorder, and a son developed a mild hearing loss. Other medical issues among the children included swollen adenoids, numerous skin rashes, excessive menstrual bleeding, and chronic strep throat. Our dog was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and 2 birds died.
In May of 2007 I pulled up the carpet where the brown spot had become quite large. We discovered black mold and immediately with the help of a friend tried to find the root of it by cutting into the drywall. We found extensive black mold surrounding the shower of the adjacent bathroom. Knowing nothing about black mold we called a remediation company. They did not ventilate the air, wore no masks, and did not contain the affected rooms. They assured us there was no danger or risk to our family. We believed them. The cause of the mold was builder negligence. He stapled the shower pan liner instead of gluing it and improperly installed the shower drain.
7 weeks after this massive exposure our 7 year-old son was diagnosed with Type 1 juvenile diabetes. In September our 11 year-old son complained of severe ringing in his ears. November 1st he was up all night with vomiting and severe vertigo. School became an impossibility and in fact he never returned to 6th grade.After pursuing second and third opinions he was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease. Several surgeries were performed before Christmas including a shunt and 2 gentamiacin injections all with the hope of eliminating the vertigo. For a solid month I carried him around the house because walking had become so difficult. His walking improved with rehab and time but his chronic dizziness worsened. Our neurotologist became frustrated and told me our son needed tough love.
In February of 2008 my 10 year-old daughter was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency and diplopia after complaining of frequent headaches, dizziness, and motion sickness. In March of 2008 the rashes my 6 year-old son had developed became extensive. He also was urinating frequently and was constipated. Our son with diabetes developed numbness in his hand, vision disburbances, headaches and severe abdominal pain. Our older son’s acne increased dramatically and he continued to struggle with chronic colds and sore throat.My husband’s right hand became numb. I was sufferering from chronic fatigue. I called an environmental hygienist and asked if mold could cause mysterious illnesses such as ours and he assured me that respiratory symptoms were the only manifestation of mold and advised us against air testing. Three of the children were now out of school completely.
In May of 2008 our 8 year-old noticed discoloration on the ceiling of his bedroom. We discovered more mold. This now involved the master bedroom shower 3 floors above the previous mold. We called our mold remediation company and they began work immediately. Again they did not ventilate the air nor did they contain the affected rooms. We decided to have our air tested and on May 22nd learned that our spore counts for stachybotrys were greater than 200,000 in 2 of our rooms and more than 60,000 for chaetomium . Having already asked the remediation company to remove their equipment we hired a new company to perform an emergency remediation. They contained the rooms, wore protective clothing and masks and ventilated the rooms properly. We disposed of all our bedding,linens, and clothing in the master bedroom , disinfected our air ducts and had all carpets steam cleaned. In June of 2008 our spore count for black toxic mold was zero.
During the course of the summer we developed a major de-toxifying regimen. This included numerous supplements and major dietary changes. We continued to see the benefit of chiropractic treatment by an orthospinologist , a specialty involving the atlas bone and its intersection with the spinal column. When there is misalignment the brain is inhibited from sending its messages to the body. Neurological and immune system issues result. One of the primary causes of misalignment is toxic exposure.
Our children all started school August 14th. Some symptoms remain. But I can take them to the park or swimming. They can play on sports teams and take dance lessons. The laughter and tears of everyday life have returned to our home and for that I am grateful.
As I look back I wonder why we didn’t see our illnesses as more than coincidental. I wonder why no doctor or specialist looked at the whole picture of our family and asked what might be going on in our home environment. I wonder why the truth about this devasting health hazard is virtually unknown.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
My mold removal company got a call from a Portland Oregon homeowner who had water damage in a bedroom closet so he opened up the closet wall and found mold. When I got there, I found that he had removed all the drywall with visible black and/or green mold, laid it in a big wet pile, and had a fan blowing high speed up at the exposed wood in the closet trying to dry it out.
What he didn’t know was that the fan was probably doing more damage than good; it was most likely spreading the dangerous mold spores from the closet out into the entire bedroom.
He should have contained the contaminated closet to protect the bedroom from mold spores BEFORE removing all the drywall. This seller wasn’t concerned at all about that; he just wanted me to replace the sheetrock, cover up the mold, so he could sell his house.
It so happened that the buyer came in while I was there, stated that this bedroom would be for her young son, and wanted to ensure that all of the mold would be removed. The seller falsely assured her that I was taking care of everything. I called her later and expressed my concerns that the seller would not agree to proper mold removal or mold remediation being done in the bedroom and that having a child that young sleep there could be dangerous for his health.
The buyers insisted the seller have me submit a new mold bid to correctly remediate the bedroom and closet of mold. From my certification in water damage restoration and mold remediation, I was positive that the demolition this seller had done in the closet had indeed spread the mold spores into the bedroom.
The seller still was not convinced there were mold spores in the bedroom, tried to explain to me that because the boards were wet, the spores could not spread and I could just cover them up. I corrected him and convinced him to have me do carpet dust samples; one in the closet where he originally found the mold and one in the furthest bedroom corner away from the closet.
Both samples tested positive for mold.
Nick, Owner Certified Restoration Inc
IICRC Mold Remediation Technician
IICRC Water Damage Restoration Technician