Mold's not to be taken lightly

[Guest guest]

Mold's not to be taken lightly

Mc

Issue date: 11/4/10 Section:

http://media.www.easternprogress.com/media/storage/paper419/news/2010/11/04/News\

/Molds.Not.To.Be.Taken.Lightly-3953740.shtml

If you had told me five years ago that something as common as mold was going to

change the rest of my life, I would have probably laughed at you and went on

with whatever I was doing.

Most people don't see mold as much of a danger. In fact, most people don't worry

at all when they find a little mold. I was one of those people, but not anymore.

It took nearly dying, having open-heart surgery and being on medicine for the

rest of my life for me to realize the true dangers of mold.

In the beginning of 2006, I learned that the mold in my apartment from Hurricane

Katrina had infected an undetected heart defect I had and I was told by doctors

that I was going to die. I was in complete shock. I was a United States Marine,

I ran 10 miles every day, I always scored high on my physical fitness tests, and

mold was killing me?

As shocked as I might have been, mold really was killing me. It had infected my

aortic valve and my heart was leaking blood at an alarming rate. In a few short

weeks, I went from being in great physical shape to needing help sitting up in

bed. I was literally dying and it was happening faster than I expected.

In October 2006, I was discharged from the Marine Corps and sent home a broken

man. My health continued to decline through the next few months. In the

following January, I met my cardiologist for the first time.

At that point I was given two options: valve replacement surgery or death.

Simple choice. The surgery was scheduled for March, and I had two months to

contemplate death and whatever came after.

I guess the actual surgery was harder on my family than it was on me. We woke up

early in the morning on the day of my surgery and went to the Rudd Heart and

Lung Clinic at Jewish Hospital in Louisville to wait for show time.

The first thing I remember after waking up was a ticking sound. My eyes had some

kind of goo all over them so I couldn't see, and there was a tube down my throat

that was really getting on my nerves. The tube didn't stay in for very long, but

it hurt coming out.

When my eyes were cleaned up and I was moved from the ICU to a private room, I

was a little freaked out when I got to see myself in a mirror. I had tubes

coming from everywhere, including two tubes, which were coming out of 1-inch

holes in my stomach. Those tubes were by far the most painful part of the entire

surgery. I was told they were draining my lungs, but whatever they were doing,

it was the most intensely painful thing I have ever experienced in my life.

Eventually I found out the ticking noise I heard when I woke up was my new

aortic valve, and it would be something I had to deal with for the rest of my

life, along with many new challenges and frustrations.

It took 27 days for me to be released from the hospital. Since then I have had

to visit the emergency room several times, I'm on blood thinners for the rest of

my life and I have to get monthly blood tests.

I've heard recently that there are some mold problems in some of the dorms on

campus. I hope that, by sharing my story, people take mold a little more

seriously. It's not something that should be dismissed as an unimportant issue.

Mold is very dangerous and can kill you. I was really fortunate that my problems

were identified early enough. The next person may not be so lucky.

MLB

posted 11/04/10 @ 1:24 PM EST

I have a lot of mold in my room, and I'm pretty sure it is making my roommate

sick, and me too. When my roommate went to health services and told the doctor

there was mold in our room and that may be a reason she was sic, the doctor

jumped all over it saying " that can't be the problem, it's something else. Mold

wouldn't do this to you. " Well I beg to differ. I think the mold is doing it to

her and to me (it's affecting her much worse though). Then I get an email saying

that housing has noticed we put in orders to get the mold removed and to go see

our RHC. Well, I have a problem with that. Mold is dangerous and I think they

should have been over here in our room as soon as they found out about the

problem. Also, I keep trying to meet with my RHC, but she has not been available

when I have been, so it's just delaying things even longer and the mold is just

getting worse.

EKU needs to take care of this problem. They need better upkeep in the dorms.

Last year I spent all winter in a room with no heat and the temperature never

got above 50 degrees (usually it was around 43-45), now I'm having to deal with

all of this mold, not to mention the leaking pipes and the constant humidity in

my room. This is making me want to move off of campus so badly, too bad they put

an age restriction so I HAVE to live on campus next year. This is a failure of

the university to take care of it's students. If I were living in an apartment

with these same problems the owner would have to take care of them, EKU should

have to do the same. They should not be able to get away with making students

live in these conditions.

Post a reply to this comment