MOLDHELP.ORG

Moldhelp.org was created because of my personal story. Toxic mold has changed my life forever. It has been a difficult road to recovery. I thank God that through His strength and power, and with the help of friends and family, I continue to persevere toward full recovery. If you would like to add your personal experience with toxic mold to this site, see the link at the bottom of this page.

My name is Laura. I had a successful teaching career of ten years. Then one day I got the perfect job. It was in a highly successful public school district in the rural community of Pinckney, Michigan. Out in a country, lakes area where, for several years prior, I had spent many summer days with friends, at campfires, on the boats, outside at various events. I had wanted to one day retire out in this area. And so, here I was with my dream-job and at the young age of 32. After my first day at work, I got sick. I thought I had a cold or flu. No big deal for me. I had been a very health conscious, physically active, vegetarian since I was a young child. Any time I got a cold, it was gone within 3 days. I had missed an average of two days of work per year over the past twelve years. I knew how to take care of my body and it rewarded me in kind. And so I knew within 3 days I would be fit as a fiddle.

Not so. My "cold" never went away, it only worsened. To the point of losing my voice, having coughing fits that would seem uncontrollable, and spitting up gross mucus constantly. This was a major problem for a music teacher that needed her voice as part of her instruction. I had to quit teaching private lessons after school because I was suffering from incredible fatigue. I could barely make it through the school day with enough energy to drive myself home before I would collapse into bed and sleep 12 to 14 hours per night.

This was very bizarre for me, a woman that needed only six or seven hours of sleep per night and was incredibly active during my waking hours. For the past ten years, I had held three teaching jobs at one time. All these jobs had incredible amounts of responsibility: planning all-school curriculums, running band programs, missing breaks to teach extra classes, putting on twelve huge concert performances or more per year. In addition, I taught ten to fifteen private students per week. When I wasn't working, I was involved in extra curricular activities. I played in an orchestra that performed weekly. I was active in church and church ministries. I was an active "outdoors" person. Tennis, rollerskating, biking, swimming, walleyball, walking…anything that was active and involved people, involved me. It was unlike me to be tired.

A few times my "cold" would seem like it was going away. It always seemed to be when I had an extended school break. But when the school break was over and I returned to work, my cold symptoms also returned. I realized because of my past history without illness, the fact that my cold started the day that I started my new job, and because of these vacation patterns, that my health problem was definitely related to my job at the school. Something was very wrong.

I began questioning others who worked at the school buildings where I did. I found that there were a lot of people that had allergies, almost everyone it seemed. I had never had allergies. I found out there were several people with cancer who worked at the schools; it seemed like a disproportionate number to me. A staff member had died from cancer. A student had lost part of her body to cancer. I met a teacher who taught in the same room as myself several years prior. She had developed severe asthma the year she worked there. I talked to a teacher that taught in the same room as I on days that I was not in that building. She had been hired a year before me. She had been suffering with identical health problems as myself. Her problems also started when she began working at the school. Her problems also subsided when she was on vacations from the school. I talked to an administrator who had allergic-type symptoms constantly when they had worked in a certain building. When the administrator was transferred to another building, they never had the symptoms again. I began hearing rumors of "mold" in the school buildings that had surfaced several years back when they shut up the building for summer with the carpets still wet from cleaning. "The mold was so thick when we came back in the fall, you could mow it", they would say. Some of the teachers would comment on how it was obvious that the school had mold problems. There seemed to be a general consensus that there was mold growing in this school building and it was causing severe allergy problems for most of the teachers there. Amazingly, the teachers all said their allergy problems subsided in the summer months when school was out. The contaminated buildings certainly did have an awful smell. The custodians seemed to know the most, but seemed afraid to talk about it. People knew there was a problem, but it was just one of those things you have to put up with in life. After all, those step salaries were at a point where they couldn't afford to go to another district now.

My symptoms and fatigue worsened as the school year progressed until, on January 30, my body seemed to physically collapse. Nothing in my body worked right and I felt like I was dying. My head felt like it was three times its size, my eyes would not focus, my hearing was damaged (it felt like I was in a sound chamber of some kind), I could not walk adequately because of the fatigue and problems with balance. My voice was almost nonexistent and I slept 23 hours a day, waking only to try to eat and use the bathroom. After a few days, a friend helped me to get to the doctor (a very difficult task in my condition). Thankfully, the Lord placed a doctor in my life that immediately recognized my symptoms. I had been a victim of sick building syndrome, involving long-term exposure to toxic mold.

Unfortunately, when one's body has been poisoned, there is not much that doctors can do, other than assist the body in trying to repair itself. I spent the next three to four weeks dealing with the same symptoms and additional problems that would arise from the exposure. I was spitting up profuse amounts of mucus, which I would later learn was my body trying to eliminate the toxic mold that I had inhaled for the last 5 months. I slept almost constantly, but had to do so in a sitting-up position, as the immense amount of mucus would choke me if I were to lie down.

After that month, I was still unable to function very well, but I am a fighter and I wanted to fight with what little energy I had left. Trying to teach was impossible at this point and entering the school building again would be detrimental. I attempted to work at a desk, doing very simple tasks for two hours per day. It was very difficult, but I did it anyway: I wanted to fight. In the midst of trying to do this job, I realized my typing skills had disappeared. I was typing very slow and almost unable to figure out which keys the letters were on. Over the ensuing months, I realized that I had some brain damage from the toxic mold. I was now unable to play my musical instruments that I had played all my life as a professional musician. My brain could read the music but could not get the information to my fingers fast enough to play the music adequately for performance. I continued in my graduate music studies anyway, thanking the Lord for a VERY patient piano professor who encouraged me all the way, despite the fact that I felt like an elementary school student when I heard the other students playing in the university studio. I continued to play my flute even though I would cry at every attempt to play a fast passage. The Lord gave the strength to just keep going and do everything to the best ability that I could, even though I felt like a child in my skill level.

As I persevered in baby steps, spending lots of time being disciplined in getting fresh air, juicing, and exercising, I improved at a snails pace. I continued to deal with more symptoms that would come up while some of them would go away. I suffered from a lowered immune system and a hypersensitivity disorder. Two years later, with the Lord's help, I was able to return to teaching a few hours per week.

After five years, I have improved tremendously. I thank God for His healing power and strength. However, my quality of life is very different than it was before the mold exposure. I could fill a book with the medical problems that I have had and continue to deal with. The ramifications of these problems financially, emotionally, physically, mentally, and socially create an extensive list also. There are many things that I would love to do, that I used to take for granted, that I cannot do. If you have a healthy life, thank God for the simple things you can do: like being able to walk to your car, to recall a memory from your past, to be able to hold someone else's hand without worrying about creating a horrible skin reaction because of it. My life is forever affected and I must persevere, but I hope to draw attention to two things. Number one: toxic mold is running rampant in our buildings and must be dealt with because it is ruining people's lives. Number two: if you have been exposed to this horrible toxin, my heart goes out to you. I know how very difficult it is to live after such exposure and I encourage you to call on the true and living God who is the only one that can give you the strength and salvation to go on in the midst of such hardship.

By: Mary Ferguson

I was poisoned by rampant toxic mold in our school. You could smell it, see it, touch it and photograph it. The custodian offered to "mow" it. We teachers laughed. Unknowingly, we inhaled and ingested toxic spores daily. I felt sorry for wheezy kids in my classroom.

Then came my ravaging, poisonous attack. The fight for my life was on.

Eighteen months into the illness Michael Harbut, M.D., M.P.H., Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, P.C., Royal Oak, Michigan reviewed my continuing symptoms: shortness of breath, non-stop headache, dizziness, memory loss, vertigo, hives, sinus, ear and throat congestion. He, and other doctors, began a million-dollar workup. He concluded that work related conditions had caused my occupational asthma and testified on my behalf.

Workers' Compensation doctors found my lungs speckled from the toxins and a positive aspergillus titer. The neuropsychologist determined that left temporal lobe damage may be the cause of memory loss.

A teacher survey revealed others with similar symptoms. Inspections revealed an old sinking building with leaks in the floor, walls and ceiling. A brew of molds, pesticides, bus fumes and poor ventilation contributed to the problem. School indoor-air reports revealed excessive skin-scales feeding these molds (including aspergillus).

Another teacher was forced to give up her musical career and her master's training. Other concerned employees eventually changed schools.

Gerald Keller, Sommers, Schwartz, Silver & Schwartz, P.C., Southfield, Michigan represented us. In documents, the school admitted they caused my illness. I have a severe disability that prevents me from going almost anywhere or working.

I attempt to relieve my symptoms by avoiding all volatile substances, including colognes, fumes, pesticides, etc. Drugs relieve some of the symptoms, however, I live in virtual isolation because toxic molds invaded my life.

If you would like to add your story of personal experience with toxic mold, please send your typed story along with your email address so that I may contact you.