Living a nightmare: Toxic mold takes its toll on our family

May 2, 2002

tm

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Our entire family had been getting sick and we could not figure out why.

I need help to expose a major health issue -toxic mold - and the insurance

companies that refuse to acknowledge the issue. Along that I am mounting a

campaign to get Senate Bill 732 passed here in Pennsylvania. A similar

measure is on the books in California.

My family and I (my wife and two sons) have been displaced from our home in

since July because of toxic mold. Our entire family had been getting sick

and we could not figure out why. Then one night my wife woke up

hyperventilating. The doctors informed us that she had asthma. Never in her

life did she have asthma. As we did more investigating, we found the source

of all of our illnesses - sinus infections, massive headaches, bronchitis,

dizziness, light-headedness - toxic mold.

The doctors and industrial hygienists mandated that no one live in the home

until the mold is remediated. The cost to do this exceeds $100,000.

Thinking that our homeowner's insurance policy was there to help us was a

wrong assumption. We had to hire a lawyer and file suit against the company

to cover the cost of the damages and repairs. Initially, the company issued

us a check for just $1,400 and hoped we would go away. The insurance company

even hired an industrial hygienist, whose report laid out the repair the

company needed to cover. They still are looking the other way.

In the interim, we still are paying our mortgage on a home we do not live

in, and up until last month, we had to live with neighbors during the week

and with family on weekends because our insurance company would not cover

temporary living for us. The company finally covered 30 days of temporary

living for us, which ended on Dec. 6.

We have been forced to borrow money from family to try and begin repair to

our home on our own as well as try and find a place to live that is

economical.

This entire event is tearing our family apart in many ways. I am going to

mount a campaign with our state senators to pass some form of legislation

that will help others in this situation, so they do not have to live the

nightmare my family and I have been living.

Clinton

Chalfont

Tuesday, December 11, 2001

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