Family Crusades Against Toxic Mold (West Palm Beach)

May 30, 2002

WPBF TheWPBFChannel.com

Wednesday May 29 07:39 PM EDT

Family Crusades Against Toxic Mold

A family forced out of their Pennsylvania home is making do in Delray Beach

while they fight to make sure their nightmare with toxic mold doesn't happen

to anyone else.

The family told Eyewitness News 25 that the worst part of what they went

though wasn't the sickness or losing their house; it was that some doctors,

their insurance company and their neighbors thought they were crazy.

Clinton, Lucania, and their children, Noah and Dylan, are

camped out in the tiny Delray Beach apartment of relatives after toxic mold

forced them out of their home. The family learned about the gooey black mold

behind their walls after Hurricane poured water through a leak into

their basement last year.

" Two days later, woke up hyperventilating -- couldn't breath at all.

We had no idea what was happening, " Clinton said.

The whole family had problems that doctors couldn't solve until a specialist

finally diagnosed their symptoms as related to toxic mold. Doctors told the

family to move out while the house was cleaned up.

The family nearly went bankrupt paying for the cleanup, which cost more than

$100,000. And the family said their insurance company, Nationwide Insurance,

refused to pay. " It was hell. It really was a nightmare. It went from a

wonderful thing to a nightmare overnight, " victim Lucania said.

Clinton, tortured by the idea that his children might have lasting injuries

from the toxic mold, set out to change the law. He got Pennsylvania

lawmakers to sponsor a toxic mold bill that would require health departments

to set mold limits and insurance companies to recognize them.

He wants to do the same thing in Florida.

" I say I'm on a mold crusade, because I will fight until something is done, "

he said. Clinton flies to Detroit June 3 to testify as Rep. Conyers

(news, bio, voting record) introduces his federal toxic mold protection

bill. Clinton hopes the bill will pave the way to help future victims of

toxic mold.

Meanwhile, the family is suing their insurance company.

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