Fw: toxic mold in apartment

[Guest guest]

Is there any victim out there who doesn't understand 's plight? What

can we do to help her?

-----Original Message-----

From: Donnelly <mdonnel@...>

bherk@... <bherk@...>

Date: Friday, December 17, 1999 12:39 PM

Subject: toxic mold in apartment

>

>Hi Barbara:

>

>Thank you for your November 2 post to Tamara in the Counsel.Net chatboard.

>It gives me a much-needed affirmation, as I am dealing with a very similar

>situation in my apartment here in Chicago. It is simply amazing to me how

>little is publicly known about toxic molds and mold-damaged buildings, and

>how they can destroy people's lives. The complex denial systems which

>inevitably accompany this syndrome are equally amazing. It seems to

>require profound strength of body, character, and spirit to withstand

>the battering by which naming this problem is so often met.

>

>To be as brief as possible, I have several pets in a moderate one-bedroom

>apartment. I have lived there two years. Last year, my eldest cat began

>showing a strange pattern of ill symptoms: difficulty swallowing, loss of

>appetite, grogginess, paw flipping, obsessive scratching, massive water

>consumption, changes in personality. After many months of futile attempts

>to find help or a correct diagnosis, she died. Soon afterward, all my

>other pets (dogs, cats, bird, rat) began showing the same symptoms, and

>then I, too, began to experience them. Local veterinarians blew me off for

>months with superficial remedies, telling me that I was just grieving my

>dead cat. As my own symptoms progressed (very dry hand rash, tightness in

>neck, throat, and chest areas, loss of limb sensation, depression,

>uncontrollable weeping, hallucinations), I began looking for doctors, as

>well as more competent veterinarians. After thousands of dollars in more

>veterinary testing for every imaginable zoonotic fungus and disease (all

>with negative results), I began to wonder if there was some environmental

>factor involved. Two doctors of human infectious diseases dismissed me as

>an uninteresting case for whom they were too busy. After chest X-rays,

>blood work, and a trip to the emergency room with dizziness and numbing

>arms, I found a pulmonologist who took me a little more seriously, but who

>is still not well-versed in toxic exposures. She has tried to treat it

>empirically with antibiotics, higher-powered antibiotics, and now

>steroids, but following a bronchoscopy and biopsy showing nothing more

>than inflammation, she still wants to treat only the symptoms.

>

>Thankfully I'm an academic research librarian and know how to work with

>information, but this investigation has literally bankrupted me. The

>few friends I have left are saying get out of the apartment, as there is

>mounting suspicion that some toxin is present. I experimented by

>boarding all the pets for a few weeks, and indeed they did dramatically

>improve. But now I am branded as a pesky hysteric by that veterinary

>office, and they are increasingly uncomfortable with me. Unfortunately

>there has been no refuge for me, and I am faced with being a hostage in

>my own home. It's a top-floor apartment with walls that leak, stain, and

>blister in wet weather. The ceiling of the adjoining unit collapsed and

>fell in last year, though mine was seemingly unaffected. While I can't

>see the trademark black streaks of Stachybotrys, I am becoming more

>certain that there must be something organic up in there. Wooden window

>ledges and trim have been falling off other parts of the building. Still

>the management seems to do very little about it.

>

>The building manager came in to look at my walls, but said they could not

> " waste the owner's money " to have expensive inspections and testing done.

>She suggested that they would cut out the section of wallboard which has

>corroded, and patch in a new section. I paled and replied that this could

>release enough spores to contaminate everyone else in the building. She

>said that so far no one else has complained of being sick, and that I

>could just spray the walls with Lysol. I explained that I have not lived a

>normal life for months because of this, and that while I've enjoyed the

>place and the neighborhood, it is beginning to look like there's a

>dangerous toxin here which is forcing me out. I provided informative

>printouts on building molds and remedies, and even a contact for

>environmental inspection. But she prefers to go through the city

>department of buildings for free, where claims can take four to six

>months. I do not think we have that much time to dally.

>

>So while searching for a new home, I'm presently taking all of the animals

>to work with me in the car, and running out to heat it up periodically.

>After only a week, they do seem to be improving again. At night they stay

>in the bathroom, which is the only room which seems to be relatively free

>of the toxin (one cat has always lived in the bathroom and has not shown

>any symptoms). This is a hell of a way to live. It is phenomenally

>difficult to find pet-friendly apartment buildings, but if only

building-owners

>knew how meticulous this pet-parent is; more importantly, how these

>animals became sick first (and one died) to let me know there was a

>dangerous problem! I think someone should be begging me to move into their

>building!

>

>While I realize that some people manage to win millions of dollars for

> " mental anguish " alone, I don't have much hope of recovering all of the

>expenses I've lost in this nightmare. I've been much too alone with it for

>the whole duration. Right now the task is to find a new, safe place to go.

>I do not have much faith in most lawyers, nor do I know how to find one. I

>certainly do not have any money to pay one. I'm not familiar with your

>network, but if you happen to have some good ideas, I'd appreciate a

>share.

>

>Sorry for the extent of this post, but I hope you know you are a tiny

>voice of hope in a huge and frightening forest. That in itself is

>reassuring. Thanks for your awareness and your articulation. Best wishes.

>

> Donnelly

> Loyola University Chicago

>

>

>