Help My Lifelong Friend & Her Daughters Escape Toxic Mold & Heal

I’ve known Sabrina since kindergarten. She’s one of those rare people whose kindness, resilience, and determination seem unshakable. I’ve watched her become a devoted mom to her two beautiful daughters and pour her heart into creating a healthy, loving home for them.

But right now, they’re in trouble.

Sabrina has a serious illness called Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), a condition that happens when a genetically susceptible person is exposed to toxic mold or other biotoxins. The immune system gets “stuck” in constant alarm mode, creating inflammation that can affect the brain, lungs, digestion, hormones, and more. For people with CIRS, the only true way to recover is to get out of exposure and support the body’s healing.

A few years ago, mold illness turned their lives upside down. It took years of doctors appointments and testing to even discover what was going on and then another two years of medical care, detox protocols, supplements, and finally finding a safe home for them to start feeling well again. That safe home gave them one beautiful year of breathing freely, sleeping through the night, and rebuilding their lives.

Two months ago, they moved into a new rental in Mexico to be closer to their daugther school. After an initial inspecting it appeared safe. But within weeks, the symptoms came back.

Sabrina: headaches, difficulty breathing, gallbladder, liver, and pancreas inflammation, heart palpitations, severe histamine flares, and fungal infections.

The girls: stomach pain, sinus issues, yeast infections, and nosebleeds.

In Mexico, there’s little awareness of mold illness, no tenant protections, and very few mold-literate professionals. Sabrina has already paid for inspections ($250–$400 each) to confirm what we feared: there’s hidden mold in their new house.

Now they’re faced with an impossible choice:

Rush into another rental without proper testing and risk the same nightmare again.

Or try to make this home livable long enough to carefully find a truly safe place, which means investing in expensive purification equipment to breathe safely in the meantime.

Here’s what your support will help cover:

Lease break: $3,000

Testing new homes: $250–$400 each (likely several)

Hi-tech PCO air purifier: $2,000 — to reduce mold spores, VOCs, and bacteria while they’re still there, buying time to find the right home

Deposit + first month’s rent: $2,000–$3,000

Moving costs: $500+

Medical/detox treatments for all three: $1,000–$2,000

Replacing contaminated belongings: $1,000+

Total goal: $10,000

Right now, they sleep with the windows open, even in cold, damp weather just to get through the night. They spend as much time outside as possible, but rainy season makes that hard. I’ve seen firsthand how quickly CIRS can spiral if they stay in exposure.

If you can donate, you’ll be helping them get out of a dangerous environment and into a home where they can finally heal without fear. If you can’t give financially, please share this with your friends and networks. Every share helps.

Thank you for caring for my childhood friend and her girls.

— Katita