A friend of mine and her family have been going through so much for the last 2 years due to mold toxicity. We are starting this GoFundMe to help them detox, pay medical bills, and try to rebuild their home and get back some normality for her, her husband, and her three kids - ages 16, 13, and 7. Their insurance has not covered any of these huge expenses except for partial hospital stays. This is what they are dealing with:

Her son started to get sick in November 2023. He was having 100 motor and verbal tics a day, oppositional defiance disorder, school refusal, rages, mood swings, major anxiety, etc. They took him to Texas Children's ER. They ran several tests and found nothing. After that, they took him to numerous doctors and could not find out what was wrong with him. He spent 3 days in the hospital and had an MRI, blood work, CT scan, EEG, and spinal tap. They found nothing. They were referred to other specialty doctors and saw two neuro pediatricians and no answers. They finally found a neuro pediatrician that ran a blood test for mold and it was positive in his blood. He had mold toxicity in multiple organs. They had a mold inspector/services come and found 4 toxic molds in their home. One area being from dishwasher flooding and remediation company not drying the walls out properly. The whole family has mold toxicity, with the mom being diagnosed with Hashimoto's due to mold toxicity and everyone has to detox, which is not covered by insurance. Medical/hospitals/doctors/treatments are as follows:

- John Sealy Hospital after insurance. Balance due $27,929

- Texas Children's after insurance. Balance due $7,925.00

- Treatments for (detoxing, Mycotoxin tests, Functional Dr. visits. Which is not covered by insurance. It takes 1 - 3 years to detox and I'm figuring the cost only for a year.) $48,000

The family had to throw away all their furniture, personal belongings, toys, mattresses, clothes, etc. due to Mycotoxins causing toxicity. The family is living in a torn-up house with many missing walls due to mold remediation, no furniture, and sleeping on air mattresses.

They hired a mold remediator to do the kitchen and one bedroom and he left toxic mold in both places. They also had to move out for 8 weeks and pay for a place to live. They were quoted $70,000 to mold remediate 8 rooms. They decided to do it themselves and lost 14-15 pounds in a two-week period.

To rebuild the house they were quoted $35,000. They are in need of furniture for bedrooms, living room, dining room, etc. They had to throw everything away because the Mycotoxins were so severe in everything. They cannot use second-hand or used furniture due to possible Mycotoxins being embedded.

The family maxed out their home equity loans, personal loans, and family loans.

The family spent $30,000 on mold inspectors/services/remediation equipment.

I've known this family for over 20 years and this is the hardest thing they've ever gone through and are continuing to go through. This is not only causing stress financially, physically, and emotionally to the parents, but to the children as well. I started this GoFundMe to reach out for help for the Ferrell Family and any amount will help. I asked to raise $85,000 although the costs are way over that. Thank you so much.

Shari Hernandez