Boston Sunday Globe: Their house was not a healthy home (Patrice and Dean )

[Guest guest]

If any of you wonder why so many of us are fighting so hard on the issue of

the devastating health effects of mold exposure, just read this article and

you will understand.

Patrice and Dean are two of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

I stood with them on the sidewalk across the street from their home as it was

being torn down. Any and every time I have asked Patrice to write a letter

to congress, testify before the Boston City Council or just recently

testifying before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health supporting

H

4766 (An Act Relative to Healthy Schools and Other Public Buildings) she has

been there. Despite their tremendous loss and pain, they are there to support

any and all efforts to keep people from getting sick from exposure to mold and

going through what they did.

That's why we are working so hard on bringing this health crisis to the

forefront. We don't want you to go through what we went through.

To all those out there in peer review land who are trying to say that mold

doesn't harm your health, consider yourself on notice. Tell Patrice and Dean

mold exposure is harmless; tell that to everyone else out there who is

suffering from mold exposure. I can put my head on the pillow at night. Can

you?

Mulvey son

THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

(http://www.boston.com/news/globe/)

BEVERLY BECKHAM

Their house was not a healthy home

July 30, 2006

Everything about the child is beautiful. She has beautiful hair, beautiful

eyes (made even more beautiful by silver glitter on the day we meet), a

beautiful smile, and a beautiful soul.

You can see a child's soul when they're new. ``Where did you come from, baby

dear? Out of the everywhere into the here. " So says the poem. But as they

age? Souls often hide.

Mikaela 's soul shines. She is 9 years old and going into fourth grade.

She lives on a quiet street in Abington with her mother, Patrice, her

father, Dean, her sisters Deanna, 14, and a, 7, and her new umbrella

cockatoo,

Sassy. She likes to write and draw and go fishing with her Uncle . And

she wants to be a teacher. Or a doctor. Mikaela, in many ways, is a typical

kid.

Except that what happened to her and to her family is not typical.

But I am not at her house to talk about a heart infection that nearly killed

her. Or how sick her sisters were, or how her father got an infection in his

vocal cords and couldn't talk for three months. Or how her mother had

pneumonia more than 20 times in six years. Or how a baby boy born nine months

before she was died when he was just 6 months old.

I have come to meet not a victim but a young author who, along with a dozen

other classmates, wrote a book.

``Angel and Meggy " is the title of Mikaela's self-published story. Angel is

a red speckled ladybug and Meggy is a little girl with long blonde hair and a

big smile , and they are friends. There's a blue sky, a yellow sun, and

bright green grass. Everything is perfect , but then the friends quarrel and

Meggy cries until Angel says ``I'm sorry " and the world is right again.

If only an ``I'm sorry " could make the world right again.

``My angel, " is what Mikaela's mom called her son. ``He was the most perfect

little boy. " And ladybugs are her spiritual connection to him.

Mikaela never met her brother, . But he lives in her heart.

You can't tell by looking at her that she's missing a brother. Or that for

the first six years of her life she was always sick, that everyone in her

family was sick. Because now she is better. Now the whole family is on the

mend.

Except for , who died on Valentine's Day 1996.

Dean and Patrice grew up in Dorchester. They dated in their teens.

They got married, lived in East Harwich, had a healthy baby daughter, and then

moved to Abington, to a four-bedroom Cape.

Six months later , was born. ``He was the best baby. Always smiling. "

His death was seen as a fluke. A tragedy. Bacterial meningitis.

Inexplicable.

After died, Dean and Patrice and daughter Deana suffered bouts of

dizziness, and had rashes and kidney infections and lung problems. ``We thought

it

was grief. " Patrice says.

And then Mikaela was born , and she had rashes, too, and chronic strep

throat. When she was 6 months old, doctors found a bacterial infection in her

blood.

``It was a nightmare, " said Patrice. Then a was born, and her face kept

swelling up. ``We all had different problems , so no one saw the same medical

people. "

So no one put the pieces together -- sick parents, sick kids, even the dogs

were sick. The family's two cocker spaniels both developed lung and kidney

disease.

The s had their water tested. But it wasn't the water. Dean's mother

believed it was the house. So Dean went looking, and in the crawl space under

the master bedroom, an addition built by the previous owner, he found ``black

mold spores everywhere. "

And then he discovered what he believes is the source. ``I'm out in the

backyard, digging, and boom, I hit concrete. " Just 12 inches from the bedroom

--

against code and against logic -- there was a septic tank that had been left

full when the property was linked to the town's sewer system in 1991.

Wearing protective gear, he cleaned up the mold and poured concrete over the

dirt-bottom floor that separated the addition from the crawl space. And then

he had the house tested. The experts said to get his family out, to tear the

place down and leave everything. The house was toxic.

``The spores were like dust, and they were everywhere. Overnight, a high

chair sprouted ``stuff that looked like something out of a horror movie, " he

said.

Mikaela's scalp started to ooze. ``The doctor thought it was goose poop from

doing headstands in the park, " her mother said. ``But then they tested it.

She had mold coming out of her head. "

The contractor who built the addition 12 inches from a septic tank is immune

to any legal action. It happened too long ago. The town inspectors? They're

immune, too. No one is culpable. No one is legally guilty because, while the

family believes the black mold caused them to get sick, there is no

definitive proof.

But, morally?

The s tore down their house and carted it away. And decontaminated

their lot. Friends helped them. The insurance company canceled their policy, so

friends helped them build their new house, too, on the cleaned-up site.

They took a second mortgage and moved in three summers ago. The house is

beautiful. The girls are beautiful. ``They're healthy. That's all I care

about, "

Patrice says.

But they still have asthma, and Patrice has polycystic kidney disease, and

Mikaela has learning difficulties. And the dogs had to be put down.

``So you have three girls, " people say when they meet the s. ``Yes,

three girls, " they reply.

But they had a boy, too. , called Angel by his mother. ``We didn't just

lose our home, " she says. ``We lost our son. "

Beverly Beckham can be reached at _bbeckham@..._

(mailto:bbeckham@...) .

© _Copyright_ (http://www.boston.com/help/bostoncom_info/copyright) 2006 The

New York Times Company

[Guest guest]

and Everyone else,

I just can't believe our federal agencies and medical community is

allowing this nightmare to continue in the name of the almighty

dollar. I thought we were leaders in medical research, but obviously

not, becaue money is more important, along with special interests.

This family and several others have suffered dearly, lives have been

lost and have paid the ultimate price due to negligence and

political agendas. It really would be nice if the leaders of this

country would step up to the plate, you know the ones that are

supposed to protect the public from undue harm. Ms. Judy Gerberding,

stop acting like a puppet and being controlled by profit. You are

beginning to remind me of those bobbleheads heads, you see in the

back windows of vechiles. When will you be a leader and not a

follower? If you don't take your job seriously, how about stepping

to the side so that someone else can fill the position that is not

influenced by big industry or political propaganda. The Center for

Deceit Control is a better name for the junk science that is

continuously regurgitated from behind those walls.

KC

>

> If any of you wonder why so many of us are fighting so hard on the

issue of

> the devastating health effects of mold exposure, just read this

article and

> you will understand.

>

> Patrice and Dean are two of the nicest people you would ever want

to meet.

> I stood with them on the sidewalk across the street from their

home as it was

> being torn down. Any and every time I have asked Patrice to

write a letter

> to congress, testify before the Boston City Council or just

recently

> testifying before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public

Health supporting H

> 4766 (An Act Relative to Healthy Schools and Other Public

Buildings) she has

> been there. Despite their tremendous loss and pain, they are

there to support

> any and all efforts to keep people from getting sick from

exposure to mold and

> going through what they did.

>

> That's why we are working so hard on bringing this health crisis

to the

> forefront. We don't want you to go through what we went through.

>

> To all those out there in peer review land who are trying to say

that mold

> doesn't harm your health, consider yourself on notice. Tell

Patrice and Dean

> mold exposure is harmless; tell that to everyone else out there

who is

> suffering from mold exposure. I can put my head on the pillow at

night. Can you?

>

> Mulvey son

>

>

>

>

> THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

>

>

> (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/)

> BEVERLY BECKHAM

> Their house was not a healthy home

> July 30, 2006

> Everything about the child is beautiful. She has beautiful hair,

beautiful

> eyes (made even more beautiful by silver glitter on the day we

meet), a

> beautiful smile, and a beautiful soul.

> You can see a child's soul when they're new. ``Where did you come

from, baby

> dear? Out of the everywhere into the here. " So says the poem. But

as they

> age? Souls often hide.

> Mikaela 's soul shines. She is 9 years old and going into

fourth grade.

> She lives on a quiet street in Abington with her mother, Patrice,

her

> father, Dean, her sisters Deanna, 14, and a, 7, and her new

umbrella cockatoo,

> Sassy. She likes to write and draw and go fishing with her Uncle

. And

> she wants to be a teacher. Or a doctor. Mikaela, in many ways, is

a typical

> kid.

> Except that what happened to her and to her family is not typical.

> But I am not at her house to talk about a heart infection that

nearly killed

> her. Or how sick her sisters were, or how her father got an

infection in his

> vocal cords and couldn't talk for three months. Or how her mother

had

> pneumonia more than 20 times in six years. Or how a baby boy born

nine months

> before she was died when he was just 6 months old.

> I have come to meet not a victim but a young author who, along

with a dozen

> other classmates, wrote a book.

> ``Angel and Meggy " is the title of Mikaela's self-published

story. Angel is

> a red speckled ladybug and Meggy is a little girl with long

blonde hair and a

> big smile , and they are friends. There's a blue sky, a yellow

sun, and

> bright green grass. Everything is perfect , but then the friends

quarrel and

> Meggy cries until Angel says ``I'm sorry " and the world is right

again.

> If only an ``I'm sorry " could make the world right again.

> ``My angel, " is what Mikaela's mom called her son. ``He was the

most perfect

> little boy. " And ladybugs are her spiritual connection to him.

> Mikaela never met her brother, . But he lives in her heart.

> You can't tell by looking at her that she's missing a brother. Or

that for

> the first six years of her life she was always sick, that everyone

in her

> family was sick. Because now she is better. Now the whole family

is on the mend.

> Except for , who died on Valentine's Day 1996.

> Dean and Patrice grew up in Dorchester. They dated in their

teens.

> They got married, lived in East Harwich, had a healthy baby

daughter, and then

> moved to Abington, to a four-bedroom Cape.

> Six months later , was born. ``He was the best baby. Always

smiling. "

> His death was seen as a fluke. A tragedy. Bacterial meningitis.

> Inexplicable.

> After died, Dean and Patrice and daughter Deana suffered

bouts of

> dizziness, and had rashes and kidney infections and lung problems.

``We thought it

> was grief. " Patrice says.

> And then Mikaela was born , and she had rashes, too, and chronic

strep

> throat. When she was 6 months old, doctors found a bacterial

infection in her

> blood.

> ``It was a nightmare, " said Patrice. Then a was born, and her

face kept

> swelling up. ``We all had different problems , so no one saw the

same medical

> people. "

> So no one put the pieces together -- sick parents, sick kids, even

the dogs

> were sick. The family's two cocker spaniels both developed lung

and kidney

> disease.

> The s had their water tested. But it wasn't the water.

Dean's mother

> believed it was the house. So Dean went looking, and in the crawl

space under

> the master bedroom, an addition built by the previous owner, he

found ``black

> mold spores everywhere. "

> And then he discovered what he believes is the source. ``I'm out

in the

> backyard, digging, and boom, I hit concrete. " Just 12 inches from

the bedroom --

> against code and against logic -- there was a septic tank that

had been left

> full when the property was linked to the town's sewer system in

1991.

> Wearing protective gear, he cleaned up the mold and poured

concrete over the

> dirt-bottom floor that separated the addition from the crawl

space. And then

> he had the house tested. The experts said to get his family out,

to tear the

> place down and leave everything. The house was toxic.

> ``The spores were like dust, and they were everywhere. Overnight,

a high

> chair sprouted ``stuff that looked like something out of a horror

movie, " he

> said.

> Mikaela's scalp started to ooze. ``The doctor thought it was goose

poop from

> doing headstands in the park, " her mother said. ``But then they

tested it.

> She had mold coming out of her head. "

> The contractor who built the addition 12 inches from a septic tank

is immune

> to any legal action. It happened too long ago. The town

inspectors? They're

> immune, too. No one is culpable. No one is legally guilty

because, while the

> family believes the black mold caused them to get sick, there is

no

> definitive proof.

> But, morally?

> The s tore down their house and carted it away. And

decontaminated

> their lot. Friends helped them. The insurance company canceled

their policy, so

> friends helped them build their new house, too, on the cleaned-up

site.

> They took a second mortgage and moved in three summers ago. The

house is

> beautiful. The girls are beautiful. ``They're healthy. That's all

I care about, "

> Patrice says.

> But they still have asthma, and Patrice has polycystic kidney

disease, and

> Mikaela has learning difficulties. And the dogs had to be put

down.

> ``So you have three girls, " people say when they meet the s.

``Yes,

> three girls, " they reply.

> But they had a boy, too. , called Angel by his mother. ``We

didn't just

> lose our home, " she says. ``We lost our son. "

> Beverly Beckham can be reached at _bbeckham@..._

> (mailto:bbeckham@...) .

>

>

>

> © _Copyright_

(http://www.boston.com/help/bostoncom_info/copyright) 2006 The

> New York Times Company

>

>

>

>

>