Can anyone help - Our story

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

We were active here about 2 years ago and had many phone conversations with

KC over our issue. We lived in a house that was full of mold and we became very

sensitized. We live in Shelbyville, Indiana and due to our exposure we smell it

everywhere, in the stores, in homes we look at in an attempt to find a clean

rental, just living here our condition is worsening. Myself, I don't care if I

were to die except for the fact that I don't want to leave my children, our

greatest concern however is our children. We NEED to get them out of this area

and into the southwest, perhaps New Mexico, but we have very limited resources,

here is a letter I wrote to a friend that is a brief summary of what we've been

through in the past 7 years:

Wanna hear a sob story? (I don't burden myself with it daily, but I just

keep on tackling life one day at a time) Our move cannot be so smooth.

About 7 years ago, I had a good paying job, owned a house, and basically

thought everything was going well. One night I went in to work to discover

I wouldn't be working there anymore. My boss said I was one of his best

men, and everyone said I would never have to worry about lay offs. Life

throws curves some times. We picked up a couple paper routes, and built a

nice business on Ebay dealing with antiques and collectibles, then the next

brick hit the fan. I came down a flight of stairs like a kid, but I don't

wear a young mans chothes anymore, and my back spoke up to say it wasn't so

young anymore either. I had a herniated disk, a bulging disk, and

degerative disk disease, I've lost about 3 inches of height since then.

I could no longer stand up and work, something I'd done all my life, we

were forced to file bankruptcy, we were talked into putting our house in the

bankruptcy by our attorney, then when the mortgage company file for a relief

from stay, our attorney never responded so we got a foreclosure compiled on

top of our bankruptcy. We could no longer do Ebay because of my back, the

packing, hours at the auction, etc. We worked two paper routes for a few

years, until my back degenerated to a point where I could not spend 3 hours

in the car anymore. My back has improved, but I still have to be careful

and cannot spend lengthy periods of time on my feet and need good support

behind my lower back when I sit.

Social Security denied me three times, so I was left on my own,

penniless, out of work, and unable to work a significant job, with 4

children still living at home, one of which is handicapped. For the past

seven years we have lived on our wits. I still run a paper route, we get a

small SSI check for our autistic boy, and have taught ourselves how to make

money on the internet. I have an affiliate web site that I advertise and

sell electronic equiptment on, it did real well this past Christmas season,

but we had to use the money to pay off debts we incurred over the past

couple years trying to learn how to survive and paying bills.

At present, we have no job lined up in NM, a paper route here, about 2

grand to move on, and we have to be out of this house the end of his month.

We've looked at houses in the area for the past year, and have found nothing

within our budget that isn't mold infested. We did find one place, but for

some reason that landlord will not rent to us. He is a young kid, and I

think our bankruptcy scares him.

Funny, we've danced for seven years on the edge of anxiety and disaster,

yet my faith and my family have kept us going, and we have never lost hope.

What we really would like to do is get an RV and travel the country working

gourd shows. We worked one in Ohio on a cold rainy weekend and made about

$600 selling Carmella's hand cream, the gourd report booklets, and gourd

charts, but we had to pay the $600 to pay for the RV rental. It was a test

that tells us we could do it, in conjunction with the internet work, but due

to the bankruptcy and forclosure, we can't get financing on an RV, and my

greatest fear is if we move to NM, we have no job lined up and renters will

be weary of that. I'd take a tent and live in it if we had to, but somehow

we have to find a way out of here because of how the mold is affecting us.

Carmella actually suffers from Mold induced Fibromyalgia like symptoms, and

we all have resperitory problems as a result of the mold exposure from the

house we lived in. Oh yeah, I didn't mention it was the house we moved into

after losing our house 7 years ago.

We still have not decided that this is what we should do, we have two

more weeks to think about it, but we have to do something.... (That two weeks

is now two days, we are supposed to be out of the house we are in on May 1st and

have still not found a suitable rental. Our lease is up and the landlord will

not repair the central air system which is causing air quality issues, and this

house too is now becoming a moldy house because of that. Because of our

disagreement, he wants us out of his house now, but that's another long story.

We are looking for any kind of help in relocating to New Mexico, some land

with a clean trailer, travel trailer, RV, (these would help us to work gourd

shows and give us another source of income), a clean house in the country for

rent, anything. We have faithfully paid our rent and our bills, but we will be

losing our paper route by making this move. Even if there is someone who lives

there who can view houses for us to insure they are mold free homes would be a

big help.

If anyone has any information, a piece of ground we can camp on, whatever,

please let us know. Our only needs are an internet connection so we can

continue our work and make a living.

I'm sorry, I hate asking for anything, and maybe that is why we are still

here, but we need help and have very limited resources. We lost everything we

owned when we moved from the moldy house. What we did not lose moving from that

house, we sold yesterday in a yard sale so we are stripped down to the bare

essentials for a simplified move. We don't care much about belongings any more,

we want our lives, we want to be able to create an opportunity for our children

more than we want material items. Maybe we just are not even thinking clearly

anymore, that too could be mold related. Then again, maybe we are thinking more

clearly for the first time in two years. Our children have suffered from nose

bleeds, asthma, fungal infections, my wife suffers from pain like fibromyalgia,

bumps growing from her knuckles, we all get rashes, suffer from resperatory

issues and more. I'm sure many of you know what we are suffering. Maybe someone

else out there has been through this and as a result has learned something that

can help us out, to know what we should do to get relocated. We will spend most

of what we have just to get to NM, but if we stay here, we will die.... Slowly

I would also like to take the moment to thank KC for being here for us 2

years ago when we ran into the problems, for educating us and for understanding

what we were going through. In my tears, my heart goes out there to all of you

who have suffered, I know where you are and where you have been, I know the

feeling of people acting like your just making this all up. We are the modern

day lepers, and if we can get out there and get something started, we would be

more than happy to help others as much as we can as well.

Maybe we can all pitch in and buy 50 acres in NM, and create lots for people

to park, or offer up lots for people to develop to help nget them back on their

feet. We are the lepers of modern society, but only because we know what others

don't know, we need a mold colony of people who understand and listen.

Thank you so much for hearing my rambling, we just don't know what to do

anymore. We feel utterly hopless at this point.

Dan

Dan & Carmella Dunkin

Evil Thrives when good men do nothing...

The Gourd Reserve

http://www.thegourdreserve.com

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