Hello all. My family and I are displaced from our home we love so much due to years of untreated water damage resulting in widespread mold as a direct result of the property owner and manager choosing to “fix” issues the cheapest way possible. Our home of five years has been deemed uninhabitable by the mold remediation company during the course of work to determine what it would take to repair the damage. There’s mold in the walls, ceilings, and attic after multiple water leaks and management choosing to kinda patch up the cracks and pour bleach on it. We are completely unprepared for a move financially as we just recovered financially from our daughter having two bilateral leg surgeries in the past three years and my wife having two eye surgeries in May to treat angle closure glaucoma. We’re a good family and good neighbors. We love the community we live in and are deeply saddened to lose our home and move away. We are active members of our small community and will miss our volunteer friends and wonderful neighbor friends. We are unable to find a safe, suitable residence in our small town and no longer trust the realty office managing this property and the options to rent out here.

We are working tirelessly to safely pack the items we can save and throw out everything else. We are shocked that it costs over $800 to rent a dumpster and Waste Pro will only take so much. We have a POD arriving today to start loading what can be salvaged. We do not know what type of mold spores the management released into the home with the air running and are nervous to move contaminated items to the new home (which we’re still frantically trying to find and secure). We can’t afford to have our own testing done and the property owner has refused to share the mold report with us (we are utterly gobsmacked that it’s legal for him/her to withhold that information that directly negatively is affecting our health). We’re unable to keep our furniture in the living room or anything else in there. We’ve been instructed of the areas that aren’t safe. Our daughter has had a series of mystery cold illnesses and is better now that she’s living in our adult daughter’s church away from the home for the past 2 weeks. My wife is allergic to whatever type of mold spores that were released into the home after the property owner opted against mold testing prior to remediation. She’s been to urgent care who sent her straight to the emergency room due to respiratory distress caused by acute allergic reaction. She can’t enter the house to pack without wearing the $55 respirator we had to buy and, even still, can only be in the house 20 minutes at a time before feeling sick and congested again.

The company I work for has been wonderfully supportive as well, providing me with extra time off and support during my displacement. I work from home and my office is the location above mold spore ground zero and contaminated ceiling and wall. I’ve been having to work on my laptop on the back porch for weeks. Our wonderful neighbors have graciously allowed us to sleep in their loft so we can work on the house during the day. We couldn’t pay for a hotel and also move. They are lifesavers. We’re so grateful for our family and friends helping us through this waking nightmare.

We have already leaned financially on family and friends while we were struggling through the different surgeries. My wife had a new job lined up that this entire “Fungus Among Us” crisis obliterated due to her prolonged allergic inflammatory response. We want to pay back anyone who has, is, or will be helping us financially during this loss of our home. If anyone is doing well financially and has any amount to spare, it would help me and my loved ones a great deal. Every bit helps.

Please pray for us to find a safe, new home and for our health and safety while we empty our former home.

Thank you all for everything. Endless love to you.

Love,

The Fields family