Help Us Recover From Toxic Mold
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It is a very hard thing for me to ask for money. I have always had a lot of pride and strived to be hard-working, independent, and do for myself. But sometimes life throws more at you than you can handle on your own. That is what dealing with toxic mold exposure is like; it is the agony that keeps on giving until it breaks you.
Here is our story: two years ago we moved into what we thought was our dream house - a spacious house on lush, wooded acreage in the humid, rainy Pacific Northwest. Little did we know that house was hiding a dark secret that would become a nightmare and obliterate life as we knew it.
Hidden within the walls of that beautiful home was toxic mold in such high volume and concentration that it made my entire family very ill within a few short months. The spore and mycotoxin count was so high that it literally saturated all our possessions; beds, clothing, books, toys, electronics, keepsakes, everything. And we were breathing in a toxic soup of biotoxins daily, to the point that every single bodily system of every family member was affected.
The symptoms were so myriad and diverse that they were baffling to us. Runny noses, burning eyes, persistent intestinal problems, headaches, rashes, dizziness, shortness of breath, unexplained pains, recurrent infections, sudden onset of diabetes, and brain fog are just a few of the symptoms experienced by members of my family. My daughter was hospitalized with an untreatable blood infection, my husband suspected he had colon cancer from intestinal pain and diarrhea that would not go away, my children both complained that their eyes and heads hurt so bad they couldn't read or watch TV or do any of the things they used to enjoy.
3 hospital visits, 12 doctors, and countless tests, and there were no answers for what was happening to us. Finally we discovered the missing puzzle piece: toxic mold. Testing revealed several mold species, including 3 that are extremely toxic to humans, and all in alarmingly high concentrations. The mold inspector said that the concentrations of the infamous "black mold" stachybotrys were the highest he had ever seen. We were advised to get out immediately.
At the time, we had no idea that all of our wordly possessions were contaminated and could never be adequately cleaned, and that by bringing them with us, the mold problem would continue to follow us. It took moving three times in Washington, shedding ever more and more of our belongings for us to finally realize two things: 1-we had to literally abandon everything we owned, and 2- we had to move to a dry climate because nowhere in the rainy Northwest would ever be mold-free enough to be safe. We were completely sensitized to even the tiniest amount of mold.
Two years later we are still living a nightmare. There have been more hospitilizations, ever mounting medical costs, my husband lost his job due to the stress and illness and having to move to a drier climate and spent six months of the last year unemployed.
Healthwise we are still recovering and experience regular setbacks. We had to give up all our possessions and have been able to replace only the barest necessities; sparse amounts of clothing, cooking utensils, a folding table and chairs, and blankets to sleep on. We have been homeless off and on for the last year, trying to find a safe environment to live in. We have finally found a safe, mold-free apartment to live in and need help to come up with the deposit and some furnishings to replace everything that we lost, as well as try to pay down some of our medical bills so that we can continue to receive treatment in order to heal.
I have tried to keep our story as brief as possible so much suffering has been omitted. Any generosity bestowed on us will be more appreciated than you can know, and we will strive every day for the rest of our lives to pay it forward. It pains me to have to ask for money but this financial hurdle is like an immovable boulder that we just cannot get over on our own. My children deserve a life of normalcy and stability with just the basics provided for them.
Please share to help raise mold awareness. Mold will always be a problem for us, something we will have to avoid for the rest of our lives for our health and sanity, and many people are unaware of how common and devastating toxic mold can be. No one should have to go through this nightmare. Thank you for your support and time in reading this.
Learn more about toxic mold and its disastrous effects at these links:
The original site I found that finally tied all our symptoms together and filled in the missing puzzle piece that helped us discover what was going on: http://blackmold.awardspace.com/black-mold-toxic-stachybotrys-mycotoxins.html
MomsAware.org: Information on Mold and Mycotoxins with many families' personal experiences shared
My own personal blog I made to document some of our experiences
Here is our story: two years ago we moved into what we thought was our dream house - a spacious house on lush, wooded acreage in the humid, rainy Pacific Northwest. Little did we know that house was hiding a dark secret that would become a nightmare and obliterate life as we knew it.
Hidden within the walls of that beautiful home was toxic mold in such high volume and concentration that it made my entire family very ill within a few short months. The spore and mycotoxin count was so high that it literally saturated all our possessions; beds, clothing, books, toys, electronics, keepsakes, everything. And we were breathing in a toxic soup of biotoxins daily, to the point that every single bodily system of every family member was affected.
The symptoms were so myriad and diverse that they were baffling to us. Runny noses, burning eyes, persistent intestinal problems, headaches, rashes, dizziness, shortness of breath, unexplained pains, recurrent infections, sudden onset of diabetes, and brain fog are just a few of the symptoms experienced by members of my family. My daughter was hospitalized with an untreatable blood infection, my husband suspected he had colon cancer from intestinal pain and diarrhea that would not go away, my children both complained that their eyes and heads hurt so bad they couldn't read or watch TV or do any of the things they used to enjoy.
3 hospital visits, 12 doctors, and countless tests, and there were no answers for what was happening to us. Finally we discovered the missing puzzle piece: toxic mold. Testing revealed several mold species, including 3 that are extremely toxic to humans, and all in alarmingly high concentrations. The mold inspector said that the concentrations of the infamous "black mold" stachybotrys were the highest he had ever seen. We were advised to get out immediately.
At the time, we had no idea that all of our wordly possessions were contaminated and could never be adequately cleaned, and that by bringing them with us, the mold problem would continue to follow us. It took moving three times in Washington, shedding ever more and more of our belongings for us to finally realize two things: 1-we had to literally abandon everything we owned, and 2- we had to move to a dry climate because nowhere in the rainy Northwest would ever be mold-free enough to be safe. We were completely sensitized to even the tiniest amount of mold.
Two years later we are still living a nightmare. There have been more hospitilizations, ever mounting medical costs, my husband lost his job due to the stress and illness and having to move to a drier climate and spent six months of the last year unemployed.
Healthwise we are still recovering and experience regular setbacks. We had to give up all our possessions and have been able to replace only the barest necessities; sparse amounts of clothing, cooking utensils, a folding table and chairs, and blankets to sleep on. We have been homeless off and on for the last year, trying to find a safe environment to live in. We have finally found a safe, mold-free apartment to live in and need help to come up with the deposit and some furnishings to replace everything that we lost, as well as try to pay down some of our medical bills so that we can continue to receive treatment in order to heal.
I have tried to keep our story as brief as possible so much suffering has been omitted. Any generosity bestowed on us will be more appreciated than you can know, and we will strive every day for the rest of our lives to pay it forward. It pains me to have to ask for money but this financial hurdle is like an immovable boulder that we just cannot get over on our own. My children deserve a life of normalcy and stability with just the basics provided for them.
Please share to help raise mold awareness. Mold will always be a problem for us, something we will have to avoid for the rest of our lives for our health and sanity, and many people are unaware of how common and devastating toxic mold can be. No one should have to go through this nightmare. Thank you for your support and time in reading this.
Learn more about toxic mold and its disastrous effects at these links:
The original site I found that finally tied all our symptoms together and filled in the missing puzzle piece that helped us discover what was going on: http://blackmold.awardspace.com/black-mold-toxic-stachybotrys-mycotoxins.html
MomsAware.org: Information on Mold and Mycotoxins with many families' personal experiences shared
My own personal blog I made to document some of our experiences
Organizer
Melissa Bolton
Organizer
Parker, CO
