WPVI.com: Medical Nightmares of Mold

[Guest guest]

Too bad 20/20 didn't watch this before airing their program Friday night. Funny, this is an ABC affiliate that aired this piece.

Medical Nightmares of Mold

You know what mold can do to a house.

But you won't believe what it can do to your body!

Friday night at 11, Action News looks at a medical nightmare that could grow right under your nose.

"I'm constantly coughing green…My arms twitched…I'm basically dying and no one is doing anything…"

How hard is it to catch?And can your doctor even help?

Find out what you need to know about Mold!

Friday on Action News at 11, on 6ABC. A Lancaster County man discovered after years of unexplained illnesses that the air he was breathing in his own home was literally killing him.

It's a real life horror story. The family that lived in this house literally ran for their lives. The house is possessed. Not by invisible spirits, but by monster mold. It has invaded every corner of the house, chewing its way through wood cabinets in the basement. Seeping through the walls and ceilings. Even crawling down the pull string on this basement light fixture. And almost killing one of the family members.

Farkas/HOMEOWNER:

"I mean, I was going down. I mean I was sick. My eyes were all red. I mean, I felt like I was dying."

Farkas struggled with a mystery illness for seven years. He bounced from doctor to doctor.

"The doctor kept telling me that he felt I was just overdoing it."

"And he said, I think you have plurosy."

"And told me that I have pneumonia."

"I'm in extreme pain. The two doctors are disagreeing."

He was in and out of the emergency room.

"At this point, I can't walk. I can't move. I have extreme chest pain, extremem back pain."

It went on like that for seven years. No one could figure it out. Matt lost his job. Both he and his wife started questioning their own sanity.

Farkas/WIFE:

"Sometimes we were looking at ourselves saying, are we crazy, are we making this up."

Matt and were desperate for answers. He finally went to see a pulmonologist At The University Of Pennsylvania Medical Center. What they found was a shocker.

TESTS SHOW mold is growing in Matt's lungs.

The Farkas' had the air tested in their house, and the results turned up the same type of mold...OVER FOUR TIMES NORMAL LEVELS. Matt's house was killing him.

"To this point, I'm basically dying and nobody's doing anything."

Matt's new doctors immediately took him off the antibiotics he was taking and put him on anti fungal medication. The results were immediate and dramatic. It brought Matt to tears after his seven year nightmare.

"Yeah, I wept. It's been a long journey."

Matt will never be entirely free of the mold growing inside his body. It can only be treated. Matt and packed up their four daughters and moved out of their mold infested house.

They're being forced to sell it to avoid financial ruin in a foreclosure. Insurance hasn't covered a dime.

Is your home making you sick? If you have frequent, unexplained bouts of:

coughing

wheezing

and excessive phlegm

Mold in your home might be the culprit. To keep mold under control in your home, make sure it's dry and well ventilated.

Stay on top of it, and your home movies won't turn into horror movies.

I'm Henry, Channel 6 Action News.

(Copyright 2002 by Action News. .)

Last Updated: Nov 22, 2002

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