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My family and I have a horror story regarding the proverbial 'toxic mold'.
To explain our situation, we purchased a historic structure that was once a one room school-house, in 1995.
The school was closed in 1974, then used for storage facility by the local school district.
It was then purchased by a prominent local couple, who housed flea markets, and dog obedience class, karate, classes/function hall. It was then sold to a fireman's local for their union hall.
Two gentlemen then purchased it several years later, and were in the process of turning the building into apartments. We purchased the school in 1995, with our plans of a music hall in the gymnasium, catering facility on the bottom landing, bed and breakfast on the second floor, and residence in same. Future plans included a full scale Cajun restaurant.
(1995) In 1995, my husband and I invested several hundred thousand dollars, in the
renovation and restoration of 55,000
foot historic brick structure, which included all new copper water lines, plastering walls, painting, new floors, new heating system, retuck-pointing the entire structure, stucco, just to name a few.
These renovations continued for 4 years until the structure was up to code. In January of 1999 the painstakingly refinished doors of Grant Manor opened to the public.
During further renovations, we were open for weddings, showers, birthday parties, Christmas and New Year parties, and even Cowboy Church services were held in the gym, every other Sunday.
Johnny Cash's sister visited the site in June of 2000 to bless the gatherings.
Back to the nightmare … On May 18th, 2000 , the worst hail storm of the century traveled through Central Illinois, causing millions of dollars worth of property damage. The storm came through while we were in Texas caring for a relative. 10 days later, the curator of Grant Manor, telephoned us explaining that she had went into the residence to get toilet paper and discovered the ceiling in the storage closet, had collapsed, and she believed the storm had damaged our slate roof. Immediately we drove the 1000+ miles to check on our building.
When we returned we observed damage to the ceilings and walls, broken windows, leaks, etc. We telephoned our insurance company and reported the damage.
An adjuster visited a couple of days later and noted damage to the slate roof. My husband is a General Contractor and a licensed roofing contractor with the State of Illinois and has been involved in construction for over 20 years. In conversations with the adjuster, he pointed out that there was more damaged than had originally been assessed. The adjuster suggested that we get an Independent Contractor, because the insurance company would not consider our professional opinion, because we were the insured.
After a crane was brought in to observe the damages, it was estimated that 25-30% of the slate tiles were directly affected as a result, and determined with that much damage, a repair was not feasible. A total replacement would be necessary.
We immediately used the crane to slip pieces of metal and cement over the broken, damaged or missing slate tiles. The adjuster, explained that our carrier wanted their own opinion, as the independent contractors assessment was not favorable to the insurance company (go figure).
We also installed plywood in the attic, along with buckets to keep the interior damages from getting worse.
As you can imagine, the insurance company insisted the damage to the roof could be repaired.
They insisted that they "have repaired slate for years, now all the sudden in the year 2000, our roof couldn't be repaired".
Engineers were brought in along with several other contracting companies, who all stated there was too much intermittent damage to repair the roof.
(November 2000) At this point, we are 6 months down the road, unaware of the hazard which is surrounding our family. The insurance company did not find a favorable
outcome and insisted we submit to a policy provision, "Appraisal". As time went on, the leaks continued to worsen, and we were literally chasing leaks all hours of the nite and day.
(March 2001) Approximately 10 months into this nightmare, my son and husband started to suffer with symptoms of upper respiratory problems. My husband started with an extremely sore throat (he also sings, and opens for various country bands), and high fevers accompanied by fatigue - like a very strong flu. He became violently ill. My 6 year old son started with upper respiratory illnesses, and very low blood oxygen levels. The local clinic, doctored us for several months, and my daughter and I began having our own health crisis's shortly thereafter. The four of us were prescribed antibiotics, steroids and inhalers to name a few.
The real kicker is we home-schooled the kids until the Summer of 2001, therefore in the Fall we thought the illnesses were resulting from them bringing the crap home from school that they picked up from other kids at school.
The illnesses continued to escalate and became worse: skin rashes, bloody noses, blood in the ears, chronic coughs, just to name a few.
The insurance company continued to drag their feet, and all the while, we were being poisoned. And didn't even know it!
We are now in 2002, and the illnesses are taking over our existence. My husband is starting to have extreme arm pains, and my son is now severely, full blown asthmatic. At this point the roof has now been determined a total loss through this lengthy process, and we are continuing to live in the structure.
Amazing enough, at this time my mother across town is having a roof put on, and the roofers, do not cover the roof adequately, which results in her ceilings collapsing. When we stopped by to see the damage, we witnessed men in full protective gear wearing masks and using huge dryers while gutting the structure.
We were shocked to say the least, as what we were seeing was total opposite of the treatment provided to us by our carrier!
You can imagine our confusion when we asked why such drastic measures were being taken. It was then that we were made aware of toxic mold. The masked men from the water restoration firm explained to us they were trying to prevent the potential risk for toxic
mold growth. We suggested that they come and test our place, because of the conditions of not only the structure, but our health.
We continued to visit the clinic and we explained the situation at my mother's house, and how we were having our building tested for the presence of the mold. The nurse practitioner suggested that we call a tester …
The test confirmed that we were invaded with various strains of Aspergillus, including Aspergillus Niger, Penicillium,
Cladisporium, and high levels of several other invasive fungi.
When they tested, they did so properly by not testing the obvious areas, just air samples and swabs, of the unknown. We took the results back to the clinic, and telephoned a relative of the nurse practitioner, who said get out!!!!!
(Fall 2002) We moved into our tour bus outside the premises. My husband was so ill he was hospitalized for weeks at a time. My son is was on breathing treatments several times a day. We sought after specialist trying to find out why my husband's arms were so painful. I also started to experience pain in my right forearm. On my neck, I started seeing a large knot (lymph nodes). A cat scan with iodine, was given, and I had multiple nodes affected on my neck and shoulder area.
After several months, we decided to seek an infectious disease doctor. He was puzzled why the other doctors didn't run special blood test to see if in fact the mold was responsible for the illnesses. We explained that we were treated pretty unfairly, like we were nuts. When the tests came back, both my husband and my white blood cell counts were elevated. My lymph count was abnormal, as was the inflammation of my husband's liver.
(Spring 2003) My son has had several severe asthma attacks, up to 7 breathing treatments a day and now takes a powder inhaler along with a pill a day. My daughter was recently taking 3 breathing treatments a day, and is very susceptible to upper respiratory illnesses. We have now been out of our building for the past 6 months, and pray the illnesses will subside, and go away.
Update: 06-13-04
A little over a month and a half ago, my husband and I both had biopsies. A lymph node was taken from the right side of my neck and my husband underwent a bronchoscopy of the lungs.
The results revealed an unknown origin for my lymph node swelling. My husband's biopsies revealed a large amount of Penicillium species, a small amount of mold in another lobe and fungal hyphae was present which, "favored environmental contamination … ". He also had bacterial pneumonia, and a yeast infection in his lungs.
Our doctor has recommended that we see a specialist to determine how to best deal with the issues of long term mold exposure.
Since the biopsy, I have noticed additional lymph nodes under and between my breasts, and the condition of the nodes in my neck have not responded to antibiotic treatment.
I only hope the treatment is successful and soon.
(Summer 2003) We filed a police report for forgery and bid-rigging against our insurance carrier. We have contacted the States Attorney's office in regards to the corrupt handling of our insurance claim. He said he would contact the Attorney General (whom we contacted previously) and see about an investigation into the matters.
(Winter 2004, the present time) We are still homeless and sick. We can't work. We are not afraid to work, our accomplishments and what we have lost are a testament to how hard we have worked.
Over the years, we paid countless thousands of dollars toward insurance coverage, thinking it would be there to cover us in the event of a so-called "covered peril" … and now, the four of us live in a school bus with no utilities and no running water, next to a fully furnished 55,000 square foot building that conceivably could hold half of the residents of my town.
I can so much relate to your sadness, and can only hope that our strength from one another will get us though this.
I can only hope that through our suffering we can better educate others, and have this issue addressed by authorities in the hopes of helping others. I can only pray that our lives of hell are not in vain, yet a stone that will bridge the gap in this area of unknown. It is proven that viruses and bacteria, are redeveloping and restructure themselves to survive, therefore it is inescapable for them to know that mold has also restructured to survive posing a threat to all.
God bless you and your families. The
GMR Family (click here to contact or schedule interviews with the GMR Family)
Read
an article about the family by clicking here
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