Couple Plagued by Toxic Mold

[Guest guest]

Couple Plagued by Toxic Mold

BY BRIAN KLIMEK: Staff Writer

Aug 17, 2005

http://www.thepilot.com/news/081705Mold.html

Georgia Davenport of Lakeview didn't know she had something in

common with Gov. Mike Easley.

She wishes the similarities between her and the state's chief

executive were of a less deadly strain.

Earlier this month, Easley was forced to move out of the 114-year-

old Governor's Mansion because inspectors found toxic mold there.

" I didn't really think I'd have anything in common with him, but I

sympathize now, " Daven-port said. " I hope it hasn't affected their

health. Maybe they caught it soon enough. It can happen to anybody. "

Davenport and her husband, , have been away from their

doublewide trailer in Lakeview since June, when respiratory

illnesses caused by the infestation drove them out.

" We bought the land and moved here in 1991, " Davenport said. " We

just got it paid for last year and thought this was where we'd be

when we retire. "

The mold, called Stachybotrys, is more commonly known as toxic black

mold, according to Kennon Brown, one of a handful of certified mold

inspectors in the state.

Very Healthy Before

It first turned up in the Davenports' home in 1999, and it wasn't

long before she started having respiratory problems.

" I was very healthy before that, " Davenport said. " I started

coughing and had a sore throat. It felt like I had fuzz in my

throat, as if I had a wad of cotton in there. "

The problem started because of a water leak in the trailer. The mold

in the Governor's Mansion arose from condensation in the air-

conditioning units.

" Around the same time I had those symptoms, I was vacuuming and I

noticed the carpet was wet, " Davenport said. " We found out that a

pipe had burst between the walls, and that's where the water was

coming from. He cut an access panel to get to the pipes, and when he

got in there he saw that there was mold. That's where my problems

were coming from. "

The Davenports filed an insurance claim, which paid for a few

things. One thing that wasn't covered was the replacement of the

wall.

" We were told to put sealant on it, which is what I'm told happened

at the Governor's Mansion, " Davenport said. " It spread from there. "

Deadly Mold Returns

Like the sealant in the Governor's Mansion, it worked for a while,

but the mold came back.

" I've been sick on and off ever since then, " Davenport said. " I've

had MRIs done for neurological things. I've experienced things like

numbness and tingling that the doctors couldn't explain.

" We thought we'd fixed it, eliminated it back then. But about three

months ago, I started with this terrible cough again and had trouble

breathing. It was like I was choking up and couldn't breathe. "

Davenport had to go to the emergency room after a particularly bad

episode. She was diagnosed with asthma, something she'd never had in

her 60 years.

" I was better at the hospital overnight, but when I got back home it

got worse, " she said. " By the next morning, I was having to sit up

to try and sleep.

" About that time, I looked up at the living room ceiling one time

and saw some black mold and I thought, Oh, no. It's back. "

Jim Ollis, a local inspector, was called in. He confirmed that three

kinds of mold, including the toxic Stachybotrys, were in the house.

" It can literally kill you if you stay in the house too long, "

Davenport said. " They did an air-quality test in our home and said

there were 208 spores per cubic inch. Even the lab was amazed that

we could breathe in our home. That was my problem. We moved out and

haven't been in since. "

The walls of the trailer have to be torn out, cut up and shipped

away in plastic bags. All carpeting in the trailer will be removed

along with any cloth items like mattresses and couches. All

nonporous surfaces will have to be thoroughly cleaned.

Davenport said her insurance is going to cover only about one-fourth

of the total cost.

" We've considered scrapping it and buying a new trailer, " Davenport

said. " But at our age, it's hard. We had it paid for and thought we

were going to retire. I would feel a little leery of living in it

again. "

For now, she and her husband are living with their son and his wife,

and Davenport, in Sanford.

`Serious' Problem

Davenport said it's hard to blame anyone for what happened to their

home. But she wants to tell her story because few people know about

Stachybotrys.

" I wanted to do this in case I could spare anybody else, " she

said. " If there had been a small child living here, it would've

died. They say it can cause the lungs of small children to

hemorrhage and they can die. That's how serious it is. I want people

to be aware. "

Family friends of the Davenports lent the couple a small trailer

that they could live in while their home is being fixed, but she

recently broke her foot and is unable to climb in and out of the

home. Living out of suitcases for several months has been difficult.

" It's been hard, not having a place we can call home, " Davenport

said, ad-ding that it could be at least another month or two before

they can return home. " It's been very hard. "

Brown, who gave the Davenports a second opinion that confirmed

Ollis' assessment, said anybody who has a water leak in their home

should be on the lookout for mold.

" The mold has a strong pungent, musty odor, " Brown said. " It's very

distinct. It will be an offensive odor. It's not something you'll

normally find in your house. "

Brown said the burst pipe in the Davenports' wall isn't an unusual

way for the mold to start.

" That's a perfect example, " he said. " Or it could be a leak from

your hot water heater. Even if you don't have a leak, condensation

and high humidity can promote mold growth. "

Brown said the level of contamination varies from case to case.

" Mold issues are something that can crop up in a couple of weeks or

can take a couple of months or years to become a problem, " he

said. " It just depends on the level of con-

tamination. Even brand new homes can have mold in them. "

Preventing Mold

Brown said steps can be taken to prevent the mold from forming.

" Any time you have a leak, make sure that it's dried out within 12

to 48 hours, " he said. " It has be to dry. The key thing mold needs

to survive is moisture. The one thing it doesn't have to have is

light. "

Mold spores are carried through the air, but Brown said it can start

in any number of places.

" It can start under your house and come up, " he said. " All it takes

is one spore and it can go from there. "

Tighter building codes can prevent good air circulation in new homes.

" They build them too well now, " Brown said. " What comes in doesn't

go out. That's why indoor air is much more polluted these days. "

Cleaning or replacing air filters can help with mold buildup in HVAC

systems. Brown recommends the use of electrostatic filters.

Davenport urged homeowners to call an inspector if they have any

doubt.

" It's not that expensive to get an inspection, " she said. " Maybe

it'll spare your home, but more importantly, it might spare your

life. "

[Guest guest]

My heart goes out to this couple. I was exposed to Stachybotrys mold and believe

me when I say it can kill you. Right now, I am fighting for my life. My Immune

System crashed to 307 and now am taking IVIG treatments that just got increased

to 48 grams of Immugamogoblin. My insurance was dropped by my work but the place

where I go for the Infusions, knows that if I do not have them, I will die. The

doctors got together and chipped in to donate the money to my church and in

turn, my church will pay my COBRA payments. $282.06 a month. Thank God that

there are people out there like that. I was beginning to think no one cared. (

My former work place surely does not.)

The store I worked at was doing a remodel and the idiot crew where scraping the

mold off the wall with brooms and whatever tool they could find to get chunks of

the plaster with mold on it off the wall. I took photos of this mess and took

two samples of this mold. It had also grown through the wall and onto the outer

wall in my office behind a huge file cabinet that I kept my handcuffs and radios

for work.( I have been threatened not to talk to my doctor, vet or any employee

about the mold or else.) I had been sick for awhile before the remodel but when

I went home, I felt better and my voice would return to normal. Since the

remodel, my voice has not returned to normal yet and I sometimes can not talk at

all. ( K.C. and Sharon and Doug Haney have heard me try to talk.) My income

stopped as of 06/21/2005 and right now I have 0 income and don't know what to

do. My Food Stamp card has only .10 cents on it and no hope for the future. I

know that I am not alone. The sad part is looking

into my pet cats faces and trying to explain to them that I can not feed them

or me today. ( I love animals and that hurts more than anything.)

Stachybotrys is very serious and if anyone think it is harmless.....they are "

dim-wits " .

Good Luck to this couple and everyone else out there sick with mold growing in

there body.

Sincerely,

Marcie

tigerpaw2c <tigerpaw2C@...> wrote:

Couple Plagued by Toxic Mold

BY BRIAN KLIMEK: Staff Writer

Aug 17, 2005

http://www.thepilot.com/news/081705Mold.html

Georgia Davenport of Lakeview didn't know she had something in

common with Gov. Mike Easley.

She wishes the similarities between her and the state's chief

executive were of a less deadly strain.

Earlier this month, Easley was forced to move out of the 114-year-

old Governor's Mansion because inspectors found toxic mold there.

" I didn't really think I'd have anything in common with him, but I

sympathize now, " Daven-port said. " I hope it hasn't affected their

health. Maybe they caught it soon enough. It can happen to anybody. "

Davenport and her husband, , have been away from their

doublewide trailer in Lakeview since June, when respiratory

illnesses caused by the infestation drove them out.

" We bought the land and moved here in 1991, " Davenport said. " We

just got it paid for last year and thought this was where we'd be

when we retire. "

The mold, called Stachybotrys, is more commonly known as toxic black

mold, according to Kennon Brown, one of a handful of certified mold

inspectors in the state.

Very Healthy Before

It first turned up in the Davenports' home in 1999, and it wasn't

long before she started having respiratory problems.

" I was very healthy before that, " Davenport said. " I started

coughing and had a sore throat. It felt like I had fuzz in my

throat, as if I had a wad of cotton in there. "

The problem started because of a water leak in the trailer. The mold

in the Governor's Mansion arose from condensation in the air-

conditioning units.

" Around the same time I had those symptoms, I was vacuuming and I

noticed the carpet was wet, " Davenport said. " We found out that a

pipe had burst between the walls, and that's where the water was

coming from. He cut an access panel to get to the pipes, and when he

got in there he saw that there was mold. That's where my problems

were coming from. "

The Davenports filed an insurance claim, which paid for a few

things. One thing that wasn't covered was the replacement of the

wall.

" We were told to put sealant on it, which is what I'm told happened

at the Governor's Mansion, " Davenport said. " It spread from there. "

Deadly Mold Returns

Like the sealant in the Governor's Mansion, it worked for a while,

but the mold came back.

" I've been sick on and off ever since then, " Davenport said. " I've

had MRIs done for neurological things. I've experienced things like

numbness and tingling that the doctors couldn't explain.

" We thought we'd fixed it, eliminated it back then. But about three

months ago, I started with this terrible cough again and had trouble

breathing. It was like I was choking up and couldn't breathe. "

Davenport had to go to the emergency room after a particularly bad

episode. She was diagnosed with asthma, something she'd never had in

her 60 years.

" I was better at the hospital overnight, but when I got back home it

got worse, " she said. " By the next morning, I was having to sit up

to try and sleep.

" About that time, I looked up at the living room ceiling one time

and saw some black mold and I thought, Oh, no. It's back. "

Jim Ollis, a local inspector, was called in. He confirmed that three

kinds of mold, including the toxic Stachybotrys, were in the house.

" It can literally kill you if you stay in the house too long, "

Davenport said. " They did an air-quality test in our home and said

there were 208 spores per cubic inch. Even the lab was amazed that

we could breathe in our home. That was my problem. We moved out and

haven't been in since. "

The walls of the trailer have to be torn out, cut up and shipped

away in plastic bags. All carpeting in the trailer will be removed

along with any cloth items like mattresses and couches. All

nonporous surfaces will have to be thoroughly cleaned.

Davenport said her insurance is going to cover only about one-fourth

of the total cost.

" We've considered scrapping it and buying a new trailer, " Davenport

said. " But at our age, it's hard. We had it paid for and thought we

were going to retire. I would feel a little leery of living in it

again. "

For now, she and her husband are living with their son and his wife,

and Davenport, in Sanford.

`Serious' Problem

Davenport said it's hard to blame anyone for what happened to their

home. But she wants to tell her story because few people know about

Stachybotrys.

" I wanted to do this in case I could spare anybody else, " she

said. " If there had been a small child living here, it would've

died. They say it can cause the lungs of small children to

hemorrhage and they can die. That's how serious it is. I want people

to be aware. "

Family friends of the Davenports lent the couple a small trailer

that they could live in while their home is being fixed, but she

recently broke her foot and is unable to climb in and out of the

home. Living out of suitcases for several months has been difficult.

" It's been hard, not having a place we can call home, " Davenport

said, ad-ding that it could be at least another month or two before

they can return home. " It's been very hard. "

Brown, who gave the Davenports a second opinion that confirmed

Ollis' assessment, said anybody who has a water leak in their home

should be on the lookout for mold.

" The mold has a strong pungent, musty odor, " Brown said. " It's very

distinct. It will be an offensive odor. It's not something you'll

normally find in your house. "

Brown said the burst pipe in the Davenports' wall isn't an unusual

way for the mold to start.

" That's a perfect example, " he said. " Or it could be a leak from

your hot water heater. Even if you don't have a leak, condensation

and high humidity can promote mold growth. "

Brown said the level of contamination varies from case to case.

" Mold issues are something that can crop up in a couple of weeks or

can take a couple of months or years to become a problem, " he

said. " It just depends on the level of con-

tamination. Even brand new homes can have mold in them. "

Preventing Mold

Brown said steps can be taken to prevent the mold from forming.

" Any time you have a leak, make sure that it's dried out within 12

to 48 hours, " he said. " It has be to dry. The key thing mold needs

to survive is moisture. The one thing it doesn't have to have is

light. "

Mold spores are carried through the air, but Brown said it can start

in any number of places.

" It can start under your house and come up, " he said. " All it takes

is one spore and it can go from there. "

Tighter building codes can prevent good air circulation in new homes.

" They build them too well now, " Brown said. " What comes in doesn't

go out. That's why indoor air is much more polluted these days. "

Cleaning or replacing air filters can help with mold buildup in HVAC

systems. Brown recommends the use of electrostatic filters.

Davenport urged homeowners to call an inspector if they have any

doubt.

" It's not that expensive to get an inspection, " she said. " Maybe

it'll spare your home, but more importantly, it might spare your

life. "

FAIR USE NOTICE:

[Guest guest]

Marcie

Your story should be on NPR and PRI,

It should be read by Bush and the head of the CDC

It should be on 60 minutes and Oprah

Keep writing about it.

Please get someone, anyone to videotape you telling your story, showing

whatever visual proofs you have.

who knows where that can, will go, but people respond to visuals.

Maybe it will become part of a documentary we will all dream up in 2006.

It all makes me sick.

--

Sick Librarian at dot Com

http://pagewebberink.com/~angie/