Death of Gig Harbor girl linked to heart problem, not 'sick' school

[Guest guest]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/77052_madison03.shtml

Death of Gig Harbor girl linked to heart problem, not 'sick' school

Wednesday, July 3, 2002

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

A 6-year-old Gig Harbor girl died of a congenital heart defect and not of

anything related to mold contamination at her elementary school.

The cause of death, released yesterday by the Pierce County Medical

Examiner's Office, came more than a month after Madison Berggren died May

22. The girl's twin sister had died of a congenital heart defect at birth.

Parents and teachers at Gig Harbor's Artondale Elementary School worried

that the school's history of mold contamination contributed to Madison's

death.

Her father, Dan Berggren, declined to comment yesterday on the medical

examiner's findings.

The school had been under scrutiny for several months after students and

teachers had complained of a series of symptoms, including headaches and

respiratory problems. Artondale was closed for more than two months while

its main building underwent a $400,000 cleanup. At the time of Madison's

death, however, some students claimed they were still suffering from

mold-related symptoms.

Peninsula School District Superintendent Jim Coolican said he sympathizes

with the girl's parents, but he was confident the school's environment

didn't cause the death.

Coolican said the district has been consulting with environmental-health

experts, but he expects the school to reopen as usual in the fall.

[Guest guest]

I used to visit some people regularly in a house that always made me

sick. The lady of the house had been diagnosed with CFS. The master of

the house had heart problems. The gentleman in question died suddenly

of heart failure. When I spoke to his wife about how the mold gave me

heart pain and palpitations, she said that the day her husband died,

he was actually feeling pretty good until he decided to crawl under

the house to work on some pipes that had been leaking. Within minutes

he was feeling ill and sat down to rest and never got up again.

She told me that every time she went on vacation her CFS improved so

much that she wanted to simply stay on vacation and never return home.

She has since decided to take that permanent vacation from her house

and has never returned. She's gone from being semi disabled with

fatigue to a world traveler and having a great time.

There is no doubt in her mind or mine as to what caused her husbands

death or what aggravated her fatigue.

The doctors are the only ones who can't figure it out.

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