My name is Ebony, and my husband and I are facing the fight of our lives — all because of something that should have been prevented.

For months, I have been living in an apartment infested with mold. I reported it repeatedly. Management brushed it off, got hostile, and stalled instead of fixing it. The air was so contaminated that I couldn’t even use my AC all summer, and I’ve lost about 65% of my belongings — furniture, shoes, clothes, my dining table, even my bed frame — all ruined from mold exposure. I paid for my own mold tests that confirmed black mold and several other types of mold were present, while the office kept telling me only “black mold is harmful” and everything else was safe to breathe.

The damage to our health has been devastating.

Last Thursday, my husband was rushed to the hospital struggling to breathe. His oxygen kept dropping below 90. After testing, doctors diagnosed him with blood cancer and pulmonary hypertension — a condition that has been exacerbated and worsened by months of mold exposure in our apartment. He now has an IVC filter, will undergo a right-heart catheterization to measure pressures on his heart, and has to begin chemotherapy immediately. Doctors gave him a life expectancy of 5 years.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to move everything out of the contaminated apartment into a hotel by myself while working and staying at the hospital with him. The stress and exhaustion are beyond words.

Here’s what we’re facing:

• My husband does not have health insurance, so chemo and hospital bills are piling up immediately.

• We lost the majority of our home and belongings to mold.

• We are paying out-of-pocket for temporary housing, furniture, and necessities.

• I’m juggling caregiving, work, and moving on my own while my husband fights for his life.

I am asking for $50,000 to help us survive this crisis and rebuild:

• Cover urgent medical bills and chemotherapy

• Replace household essentials lost to mold

• Pay for safe housing while we recover from this nightmare

• Manage daily expenses while I support my husband through treatment

This wasn’t just bad luck — it was negligence. We’ve been breathing in mold since June, and it pushed my husband into a medical crisis that has forever changed our lives.

If you can give, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you can’t, please share our story so it reaches someone who can. Every act of support matters more than words can say.

With love,

Ebony