Support the Bradley’s after hurricane damage and toxic mold

My name is Paul Peterson. I am the father of Danielle Bradley. Danielle, her husband Jon, and their four kids ages 1, 3, 6 and 8 recently suffered catastrophic damage to their home in North Carolina from Hurricane Debby on August 8th and more recently, Hurricane Helene.

Debby’s main impact across southeastern North Carolina was flash flooding from extremely heavy rainfall and tropical storm-force wind gusts. This caused a tree branch to fall and damage their roof and cause a significant water leak. It also revealed some prior storm damage that had been an unknown and ongoing problem.

Danielle contracted a company to place drying fans and had the roof temporarily tarped. They began the process of repairing the water damage, but before opening the wall, the remediation company performed initial air quality and mold testing which revealed a much larger than anticipated problem. There were very high levels of toxic mold in the air and growing in the water damaged wall and in the main floor heating and cooling system.

Around the same time, mold began to appear on the ceiling around the vents upstairs. Additional testing revealed a completely different strain of toxic mold in the separate upstairs heating and cooling system. While all of this was occurring, the two youngest children developed severe reactions attributed to mold. The 1 year old developed a full-body skin rash. Their 3-year old son was vomiting and extremely weak with no other signs of illness. All of the family members were reacting to the contamination.

Danielle was diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease around 2014. Since that time she has been extremely sensitive to the effects of mycotoxins produced from mold. She’d been having a lot of whole body itching and horrible headaches for a few weeks prior. The symptoms were so alarming that she was about to go to a doctor to try and figure out what was happening.

The whole family had been experiencing concerning health symptoms the month prior to the storm damage discovery, so upon learning about the extremely high levels throughout the entire house, they packed up and left the same day. They moved in with Jon’s mother, adding six people into a household that was previously home to one person.

Since leaving their home, all of the new health issues they’d been experiencing have cleared up completely.

North Carolina was one of several states with widespread storm and hurricane damage which made it difficult to locate a dependable contractor with experience working with insurance claims, so Danielle assumed the task of coordinating repairs between tradespeople and the insurance company.

The challenge of running a household and constantly shuttling the kids to their school a half hour away from their temporary quarters, all while trying to meet with and vet multiple contractors, was at times overwhelming for her.

To top things off, the roof leaked again during Hurricane Helene’s torrential rainfall even though it had been professionally tarped and covered and there shouldn’t have been a way for water to still get in.

The cost of mold remediation, water damage repair, and the replacement of floor coverings, roof, and two heating & AC systems, plus all ductwork has come at significant cost. Uprooting the family has been difficult for everyone. They were displaced and living with Jon‘s mother for nearly three months and the repairs are not yet complete. They had to empty their house of almost everything and put it in storage so the carpets could be treated and replaced. Once back in their house, they still have to go through and sanitize and launder everything that can be, and get rid of the things that can’t, so they don’t recontaminate the home.

Our life savings and 401K were impacted by Covid, much the way it was for many who were approaching retirement. What remained was soon depleted by medical costs and treatments when my wife suffered a stroke and had to retire after 30-plus years of teaching in the public school system. Her cognitive difficulties made it impossible for her to continue in her profession. We filed a claim with her employer-sponsored CIGNA disability policy, but it was denied.

I had retired 6 years earlier but returned to the workforce to help cover the mounting medical costs.

Danielle’s mother and I would like to help them financially, but our Social Security and pension income covers only our basic needs. Sadly, we are unable to help them at this time.

Their insurance covered only a very small portion of the repairs, because like most policies, it has a very low mold cap. They will still be paying $ 50,000 out of pocket to make their home safe and livable once again.

Thank you for taking the time to read about their circumstances.

Your generosity can help them recover from this chaos.