Jacksonville mom says apartment mold, asbestos caused son's asthma death | Jacksonville.com

Jacksonville mom says apartment mold, asbestos caused son's asthma death | Jacksonville.com

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Fourth Hospitalization due to Toxic Mold Exposure

Our youngest son was admtted to the St. Louis Children's Hospital while on a trip to visit family last week.  He was diagnosed with pneumonia for a fourth time.  He was also diganosed with Moderate to Severe Persistent Uncontrolled Asthma which is what causes the pneumonia to form.  This nightmare started when he was exposed to toxic mold in a house we rented from the time of his birth until he was nearly two years old.  His first hospitalization and asthma attack ocurred when he was 18 months old.  He is now four years old and has been hospitalized four times. The type of toxic mold that caused him to have this severe form of asthma is called Chaetomium.  Please read through our blog to learn more about our story.  We hope that by telling our story, we can help other people.


(the picture above shows how much of a struggle it was for our son to breathe even while on oxygen)

Click here to read the full story regarding his most recent hospitalization.

Black Mold Exposure: It Can Happen to You

A new documentary will be released in April of 2009 about black mold exposure.

ABOUT THE FILM

Black Mold Exposure follows Michael Roland Williams, filmmaker, and Karen Noseff, founder and designer of Fortune Denim, struggling to regain their livelihood and well-being after they were unknowingly exposed to high levels of various molds that had infested Karen’s apartment. The entire 264-unit apartment community was evacuated and closed indefinitely. Michael and Karen claim to have developed allergies and sensitivities to virtually everything, causing them difficulty in finding “safe” housing as well as numerous other bizarre problems that have continued over the last five years.

A growing number of people from all ages and walks of life claim mold made them ill while physicians, lawmakers, and medical associations dispute the validity of these claims. Most of the symptoms of those claiming illness from mold can be caused by, and diagnosed as, any number of other illnesses. There are no standardized methods to measure what molds, at what exposure levels, over what period of time, might cause any given person to become ill.

BLACK MOLD EXPOSURE explores the bizarre illnesses associated with exposure to toxic mold and the film participants’ difficult task of regaining their health and lives in an atmosphere of political and social intolerance and disbelief.

BLACK MOLD EXPOSURE is a first-ever look into the lives of those claiming to be ill from mold and the controversial and volatile climate surrounding it.

WATCH THE TRAILER

An 18 Month Old Baby Hospitalized due to Toxic Mold

This is a picture of my youngest son in the hospital. This picture was taken during his first hospitalization in March of 2007. He had a severe lung infection in both lungs, reactive airway disease which was later diagnosed as severe, uncontrolled Asthma and an ear infection. He was on oxygen for nearly 3 days, IV fluids, IV antibiotics, Albuteral every four hours around the clock with a nebulizer, Prednisone, Pulmicort etc. Little did we know, two more hospitalizations would occur within the next year. Click HERE and HERE to read about this 18 month old baby's toxic mold story.

Nasal Swab to Test for Mold Related Illnesses

Chaetomium was the toxic mold that was found in my baby's room. It is one of the dozens of toxic mold that can attack humans, make them deathly ill and kill them. We have spoken with at least seven drs about these concerns without any progress.

The first Allergy/Asthma dr that my son went to checked him for 18 of the most common allergies and when he found out that he had none, he prescribed Singulair. All he wanted to do was put a band aid on the problem by prescribing a trendy drug that hasn't been researched enough to be sure that it is OK for a two year old. This made me extrememly frustrated.

He went to see a different Allergy/Asthma dr last month. After telling our story for the 150th time, this doctor knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. He knew about this specific type of mold and what it does to the body. He said that he has treated many children with toxic mold infected lungs. He explained to me that mold establishes colonies within the nasal passages before the lungs, so a nasal swab and some blood tests would be the best way to diagnose my son's lung issues! He sent off for my son's medical records and asked for the mold report from the mold inspection that was done at our previous residence.

Finally, there is progress and some sense of relief that someone is listening to us and taking us seriously. Stay tuned to see how these tests go and what the outcome is! I will post as soon as I know something.

Toxic Mold is an Epidemic

After our nightmare ended with the house on McDonald St in Culver City, CA (SEE THIS BLOG POST FOR DETAILS), we moved to a condo in Santa Monica on August 19, 2007. We were so excited to begin a new chapter in our lives and be healthy again.

A day after we moved into our new condo, our toddler came down with a severe attack. He didn't have to be hospitalized but he needed immediate medical intervention that we could not give him. He was once again put on heavy dosages of steroids in addition to inhaled steroids to fend off a full blown lung infection that we had seen two times previously (once in March 2007 and then again in May 2007). We thought we had beat the mold this time. We got him under control before he took a downward spiral.

I was concerned that he reacted that way because of his new environment. My intuition told me that there was mold somewhere and he reacted to it immediately. However, there was no physical indication to validate my suspicions.

Caeden (our toddler) seemed fine after that until January 2008. It had rained and rained heavily for abour 4 or 5 days. He started to be sick almost immediately. His room was carpeted. On January 4th, I noticed that there were SO many ants in the outer corner of his room on his carpet. I don't allow the kids to bring food up to the second floor so this was very strange. I decided to vacuum them all up because they were evading me. I did so. More kept coming. I was horrified so I knelt down to move his "Little People" barn to see if there were more underneath. I found a WET, SOGGY Carpet underneath his little barn that went all the way to the baseboard and the wall!!!

We moved his bed into our room that night. He stayed sick off and on until January 21st, 2008 when he was admitted to the hospital a third time for a lung infection.

Coincidently, during this time, our landlords (who responded quickly and compassionately) sent workers over to tear into his wall. Guess what they found behind his bedroom wall???

MOLD! ALL BEHIND HIS WALL! THE SAME WALL HIS BED IS UP AGAINST!!! (just so you know-our landlords immediately took care of the problem...we love them!!)

They say that lightning never strikes the same place twice...but mold can affect the same family twice, maybe three times...maybe more! We are living (but unhealthy) proof of that!

I really feel that this is an epidemic. I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that we would have to go through this again in our lives...but we did. I hope this is over for us now.

Be aware of your surroundings and how they make you and your family feel. Follow up on any and all intuitions or gut feelings. Please steer clear of carpeting. It masks so many leaks and breeds mold once it is wet.

Obstacles

The one thing that my family disocovered is that if there isn't a heap of evidence that proves that someone has been poisoned by toxic mold, then most attorneys won't take your case. This is unfortunate because my family still suffers from the lingering effects of toxic mold and we have been out of that environment for 9 months. My youngest son, who is two and a half, still has respiratory problems and was just admitted into the hospital for the third time in January of 2008 with a lung infection. He has to be on medication to control his breathing problems and continues to need a nebulizer. This is what a babies/toddlers/children go through each day after being exposed to toxic mold:



The attorneys that I spoke with said that the best thing to do is call an attorney the very first moment that you suspect toxic mold so that they can properly and thorougly inspect the residence for toxic mold. Attorneys want an open and shut case because they want to win every case that they take to trial. In our instance, it wasn't so open and shut because we did not have enough money to test the entire house and our landlady refused to pay for it. We were more concerned with getting out of that house and finding a new place to live that was healthy and safe.

The medical bills are outstanding. We have paid thousands of dollars in medical bills as a result of living in a home with toxic mold that made us sick. This home made the previous family sick as well. The pictures on this site were shown to the homeowner's insurance company and they did nothing about these issues. They closed the case without further discussion even though they saw visible signs of water damage throughout the home. We were hoping that they would pay for further testing so that we could find the source of the toxic mold that was in the air, but those dreams faded.

There needs to be something done about toxic mold even if is just awareness. Maybe you can do something to spread the word about this horrible affliction that affects so many people and children each day. If you are an attorney, consider taking a case that isn't open and shut or if you are a writer, write a book about toxic mold and how even a little bit can cause major health problems! If you are a doctor, consider this when a patient has unexplained illnesses one after the other. Write down your suspicions, don't keep them to yourself. DO SOMETHING!