Another person's battle with mold

[Guest guest]

This is the story of a friend of mine, , who received her degree in Biological Sciences from Carnegie-Mellon University (pre-med) as well a Master's Degree in Violin Performance with Itzhak Perlman. She is an accomplished musician as well as an accomplished computer background. She is battling the horrific problems, both medically and financially, from toxic mold exposure. How many more stories like this do we have to hear about? Do you actually think she had the time in her life to make this up? None of us did.

When will someone hear us and do something to help?

Mulvey son

Hi All,

I have decided that, my state of total panic, it would help if I wrote some things down. Not only have I written them down, but I've emailed them to three Massachusetts senators. I will not stop there. As I have time and energy (extremely limited), I will send this to whomever I can.

If you and I do this, it communicates the scope of the toxic mold issue in the form of human lives and human suffering. Then we stop being percentages and other numbers. We become IN PEOPLE'S FACE. This is a huge problem. We are sick, our children are sick, poor families with no resources are sick, wealthy people are sick. No one should suffer like this because some building developer wanted to save on construction costs, for instance, by using particleboard rather than plywood. Or because insurance policies would have you "absorb your health and remediation costs" because you didn't have the FORESIGHT (???) to take out insurance on a condition that you never dreamed would ruin your life!!!

Here is what I have written so far (and, believe me, I have done other things politically as well):

Dear Senator _____,

I am a violinist who was a student of Itzhak Perlman. I, at 53, should be giving concerts while in the prime of my life.

I am unable to do so because I am struggling with toxic mold in my condo. I have been struggling with this for almost the full 2 years I have owned this, my first home and mortgage.

I cannot plant the flower garden I would like or make my home habitable.

It has been destroyed by a company I hired to remediate the mold. My life has also been destroyed. Nor am I the only one. I can only tell you my personal story, but, I assure you that many others on my street are suffering as I am with the inability to improve their situation for lack of resources OR governmental help of any kind.

Here is my personal story:

I have been made extremely ill by my symptoms of mold exposure: Daily migraine headaches beginning as early as 3 am, lasting all day; spontaneous vomiting and extreme difficulty with digesting food; extraordinary and chronic fatigue; sinus pain requiring treatment; chronic asthma with productive coughing, wheezing and inability to breathe; mental confusion and inability to think; weakened immune system; vulnerable to every bug that goes around.

I struggled thru the remediation of my condominium in Haverhill from Jan. 2003 until Feb. 2003, all the while hoping that I could remedy the situation and be able to live in my condo safely.

At every step, more mold was uncovered along with more remediation activities and greater cost. I began with thinking that if my basement carpeting were removed, I would be finished. At the end, nearly every room of my condo had walls and ceilings ripped out with the realization that nothing I could do would get rid of the mold or prevent it coming back. I was forced, then, to face the idea that I had to sell and leave.

I was forced to discard many personal belongings because of their mold contamination. After the remediation I had to work to continue to decontaminate the rest of my belongings, which were of a considerable amount.

I had to have many things repaired or replaced at my own cost because of damage during the remediation process.

I had to juggle trying to work at my career with interviewing lawyers, remediation companies and then companies to rebuild my condo. In addition, I have been seeking medical help from experts who are recognized in their fields. It is nearly a full time job making all these appointments so that symptoms are under control and proper procedures are followed so that the lawsuit I am bringing against the insurance company is following proper principles of proof and discovery. In addition, I need the treatments as long as I am unable to move away.

I have no friends who live closer than Boston with whom I may live. Even then it would cause a hardship for them as well as me to simply move in with them or as much as a financial burden to rent from them as from a stranger. I have no family.

Now I'm interviewing real estate agents. There is a chance I will not be able to sell because of people's heightened awareness of mold.

If I cannot sell, then I don't have any idea what I will do since I cannot afford to rent an apartment and pay a mortgage. If I move into a substandard place, I run the risk of being further exposed to mold, which, now that I am sensitized, will cause me to be as badly off, if not worse, heath wise as I am now.

If I do sell and intend to buy, I must buy nearest work areas in Boston and Providence, RI - a long way from Haverhill. This means I must add the time consuming principle of travel in searching for a home to buy.

I have been criticized for not leaving my condo immediately since it makes me so ill to be here, but if I cannot afford to continue to pay my mortgage while taking on a rental with its duplicate utilities, then there is nothing for me, but to stay here until I sell.

Moving into substandard housing with all my allergies just creates more chaos and puts off the goal as well - moving into a home that is medically safe.

I have testified at the Boston Health Dept. hearings on a toxic mold bill authored by Sen. O'Leary. The bill is "held up in committee" and its purpose is to "look into" toxic mold.

I and others like me are living with this horror today and it makes for so much grief to be told that someone is merely looking into this destroying of the quality of life when other states such as California have state recognized levels of mold. We need help NOW - not when some legislator decides it is an issue for him/her to address.

Our homes, financial viability, our health and our sanity are being ravaged.

If you or anyone thinks this is not the case, I invite you to my home to see the stacks of medical bills, test results, legal papers and prescriptions. Come and be with me while the people browse thru my home and upon hearing that there was a mold problem here, watch their look of disinterest, damning me to more unhealthy time spent here or losing my shirt if I sell short.

The insurance companies refuse to deal with the problem and yet why should I be out $30,000 and more for this with the end result being that I cannot sell my home and relocate to a healthy environment?

Why should I damn myself to a life half lived of perpetual ill health?

Thank you and I'm sorry this was so long. Please work to do something about this huge cause of human suffering in Massachusetts

Stensrud

[Guest guest]

,

Read the post I just wrote to about Congress and funding.

Please have your friend write her story. This is how people will

hear us and we can get help.

Mold survivors unite for positive changes.

Bonnie