Black mold and a Christmas miracle

My fiancé, myself and our 5 children, 3 of which are medically fragile and disabled have dreamed of being homeowners for years. we’re a young family with 5 kids under the age of 8, and 3 of the kids are medically fragile and are all disabled, as is my fiancé, who has  seizures and other medical conditions.

My fiancé and I have worked endlessly paying off debt, and myself working 3 jobs to make home owning a reality and finally happen, and less then 3 months ago it finally did! We thought we bought our dream home, and did everything right with obtaining inspection while we were under contract, which seemed to go great.... nothing unusual came from the report except a few minor things like a window being cracked and older furnace...

Over the last month or so we have all been extremely sick, so sick that last week I had to bring my wife and all five of our children to the emergency room because they were all having severe respiratory issues and having trouble breathing. 

our world came crashing down on Thursday night, we found out that we have a severe water  leak that according to the plumming service as well as water restoration in home estimates we we received, who reported this was a problem that wasn’t new, and that there was previous severe water damage that had been covered by cabinets and pegboard. None of which Was disclosed on our previous disclosures, and BLACK MOLD  growing on and in between the walls and cieiling of our laundry room and utility closet...and possibly even the bathroom (haven’t ripped all the walls down yet to know for sure) which is located in our children’s playroom. This was deemed as something that’s been long in the making. Our home warranty and homeowners insurance said because this is an issue that was ongoing- and falls on the previous owners,  they will NOT cover it. and the mold alone isn’t covered at all, despite liability.

They would not cover mold restoration, nor repair any of the damages of having to rip all the walls and plumbing out in the downstairs. Two of my special needs kids rooms are downstairs, and the play room is where the majority of the children’s 65 hours a week of in-home therapy and nursing takes place.

We’ve been on the phone with mold restoration teams, had an air quality company came out as well as both insurance companies all day, and we’re being advised to MOVE due to the severity of the mold...... and until  we can come up with the 3 grand to remove the mold and then fix the leak, THEN come up with who knows how much replace all the walls and structure that will have  to be removed. Because the mold has spread so badly and is so severe, unless we can fix the problem, we were advised to move. We don’t have anywhere to go, and with our children’s unique special and medical needs, we need to be home to have access to their medical equipment and therapies.

How on earth I’m supposed to move my family a week before Christmas is beside me, not to mention how to afford deposit, rent and a morgage all while raising children. 

the other problem we are running into is they said until we remove the walls infested with mold, they cannot fix the ongoing leak inside the wall because of liability reasons. 

Obviously we plan on contacting a lawyer, but anyone knows that these type of situations could take years, because court and proving liability and on whom is a long road.  

We just need help removing the mold and replacing those walls so that it’s safe for my family to stay in our home. I just feel like my family got thrown into a health hazard of a house even though we did everything right and we don’t have the means to deal/pay/fix  it. For someone to knowingly cover up a mold problem and sell to a family is absolutely horrible, and we never expected to need to have to pay for something so life threatening, and we are not prepared for the burden of cost.

This been one of the hardest years for us despite us reaching one of our biggest goals of home owning. We’ve lost a family member, our car was totaled By a teen texting and driving, my wife and children’s identities were stolen after car break-in in Fort Collins- and now this just tops the cake.

Any help during this crisis would mean the word.  I have provided pictures and would love any suggestions. We really need a Christmas miracle.

Any money donated will go towards restoration, repair, construction and remedying this crisis.  

Thank you for reading. Happy holidays 


* to clarify, as we’ve gotten a lot of hatful messages- we did have a home inspection done, and if it was done properly, and we were informed of the mold and water damage, we would NOT have bought this house. We also have contacted our home insurance and home warranty, which will NOT cover the damage besides the leak!