Support Nikki and Ben's Fight Against Mold

Hello, I am Nikki, and he’s Ben, and this is our story..

Christmas morning, 2023, I woke up sick. A leak in my bedroom occurred the day before and I hadn’t felt right since. Panic ran through me as I realized this is how my son had been feeling for months, even years. I couldn’t breathe, I was congested, and my eyes burned to keep open. How could I have let Ben live this way for so long?

There was a smell in the home, a pungent, unmistakable smell, and somehow.. I knew without really knowing.

That night I slept in the living room, hoping to escape whatever was making me sick in my room. The smell didn’t subside, if anything it was worse, but I knew I couldn’t be in my room another night. I woke up on the blowup mattress unable to open my eyes; glued shut with a yellow-y film. I just kept thinking of what our doctor said two years prior, Ben looks like a “mold kid.” I made an emergency appointment to see the eye doctor and was told my eyes were inflamed and irritated, they were responding to something in our environment, like a severe allergen.

When I got home, I looked up to pray, to beg, to plead for an answer, and there it was. Black mold in the air vent in the living room. I wish I could say I jumped into action. That I took the bulls by the horns, but quite frankly I shut down. I fell apart. I all but ignored it.

I know now, my brain shut down to protect me and my subconscious was doing magic in the background.

You see, life had been rough for YEARS. Ben was in the ER that November for a severe asthma exacerbation, constantly battling allergies; years and thousands of dollars worth of Pulmonology visits, medications, inhalers, nebulizers, blood work, tests, etc. I had been ill with autoimmune for a long time. Officially and finally diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis but not before my physical health and my body had been taken from me during such a prime time in my life; at almost 30, I was told I had bones of a 65 year old woman, I lost 20 pounds-mostly muscle, there was a time I couldn’t even walk down stairs without needing someone to hold onto. I would fall from the weakness, the pain was almost unbearable, I lost my health, I lost me. I was in physical therapy for hours every week for months on months, my doctor filling out disability paper work. Injections, medications, steroids, even low-dose chemo was what I faced. We had been through the wringer. It was a constant battle and we didn’t know why. What was causing this? Why was this happening? Why were we so sick? We changed everything. We changed our lifestyles, our diets, our perceptions. I did hours of research, days of cleaning, sought out expert help. These things helped but there was always something wrong with our health. I was going negative in my bank account just to afford the medical bills, the medications for us both, and the healthy eating.

So you’re telling me, now we have MOLD!?

I was devastated! It took a few weeks but I got up. I got to work. And I got busy. I contacted numerous people, several companies, and came up with a plan. Ben and I moved into my parents’, and all of our animals moved into the garage. We were separated. But we had a place to stay. Our physical health improved but our mental health took a hit. Being away from home, sharing one bedroom and one bathroom, everything we built over 12 years taken from us.. but we kept going.

The first company came.. they promised a lot. We trusted. It failed. I could say more but I love too greatly to put anyone down.. bottom line, our problem was bigger than any of us knew, and that company left us in a worst situation than when they found us.

Our home was halfway demolished, dirty from ceiling removal, tile removal, drywall removal, paint, and we were left to figure out how to pick up the pieces.

I cashed out my 401k, my entire life savings to remediate this mold, and now.. I’m in a worst place than when we started.

10 different companies came, painters, contractors, shower and tile companies, flooring, plumbers, mold testers and mold remediators!

Ben cried, he sobbed, he fell apart when I told him the first company left us and quit the job. He believed as much as I did that we would be safe and secure in our home again soon. Disassociation occurred quickly after this point. It was Ben’s 12th birthday and we were supposed to be back in our home. Celebrating didn’t feel right, he didn’t want to.. couldn’t. We were so empty, so lost. Months of waiting for it to get done and we find out we have to start over.

We hired a company and got into motion. I was missing hours of work, running around meeting with people, contacting people, trying to figure out funds, negotiating, researching.. trying to trust again. I was running on empty but always looked to Ben for my reason to keep going, my animals who haven’t been inside our home in 5 months and have been living without us.. I was doing it for them. I would go to the house 4 times a day. Morning, lunch, after work, and bedtime to care for the cats, dogs, and fish. We would sit out back, sit out front, just to be near the home.

The second company came and we started over.. we learned a lot from the first round and this time was determined to be different. We tested the house and discovered we had several molds in several rooms of the house, three of the most toxic and airborne molds. We found the culprits to our medical conditions. We found out what had been making us so sick and it plagued our home. Moving into my parents was the ultimate control for us, Ben’s asthma has resided and my RA slowed, neither of us on any of our medications, Ben cleared by Pulmonology!!

Again, I’d like to blast this second company for coming in, promising a mold-free home, only to take shortcuts, miss mold countless times, and eventually neglect to provide us with a mold-free home yet taking all our money, but I can’t lower my energy any more than it already is to do so. They yelled, they lied, they belittled, they hid things, they cut corners and by the time they were done.. mold was found in three of the places they “remediated” having to find the means to treat it again!!

We moved out in January and by March we were abandoned and having to start completely over, by April we were out tens of thousands of dollars to a professional Oklahoma City business who did us wrong, and on my birthday in May we found more mold during remodeling.

Our lives have been uprooted, our personal items destroyed, we had to throw out half of our home so companies could come in with ease; pictures, paintings, cards from deceased relatives, house plants, toys, personal creations.. our hearts. We had to bag up and box up our entire home and in the process a lot was destroyed.

It’s now June and we are still not home. We have fought, we have cried, and we have given up. The last company is finishing repairs now and it’s time for us to face the music and see if our home will be safe for us. However, we are left without a lot. No fridge, no towels, no bedding, no wash cloths, no blankets, no shower curtains, no washing machine, no food in our pantry..

WE NEED HELP! Not only did I cash out my 401k with the funds spent but I had to take out a hefty loan, with a hefty monthly payment, and now we cannot refurnish our home to live in it.

We are so close. We are at the finish line. We are scared. We are scared to get sick again. Scared the asthma will come back. We don’t want to be scared. We need a lot and are asking for help.

We need to get a refrigerator, a washing machine, have our air cleaned one more time since finding more mold, we need groceries, a new water heater, help getting our toilets seated in place and working, we need linen, we need dehumidifiers and air purifiers, we need everyday household items to be able to live and thrive in this home once again. My savings is gone. My backup is gone. My paycheck will be gone every single month.

We just want our home and our family back.

Please help by donating whatever you can, whatever suits you. I put a starting goal but to be honest more is needed, but I know and believe with my heart, any amount will help! At this point I’ve exhausted myself, I’ve been in the hospital 3 times - my body battling the stress of it all. Our summer is quickly fading. We can’t make it without help! We need back in our home. Ben needs his childhood back. Our animals need their family back.