I Got a Mold Problem!
Ok. Let’s hope this does more good than bad.
About a year ago I took my 4 month old baby to the doctor, she was having real bad allergic reactions. She kept breaking out in a red rash in different places on her body, mostly her face. Other symptoms were runny nose, swollen and watery eyes. After some time the doctor asked if there was anything at home that may be affecting her, I mentioned a bad mold problem we have in our apartment. The doctor wasn’t sure if that was what it was or how to determine if in fact it was related. He decided to keep her on Benadryl. after time we got desperate and changed her and my son to another doctor.
The new doctor concluded that both my children were suffering from allergic rhinitis and that she was sure the mold was doing us no good at all. I wrote my landlord a letter explaining how the mold was causing us health problems, the next day she came in to inspect. We were told that our kitchen cabinets, and everything in our bathrooms would be replaced.
A few days later the maintenance man came in and started work on the kitchen, took him a month to finish work on kitchen. Parts of wall walls were torn off and replaced and new cabinets were installed. The problem is within the walls was mold everywhere, on the insulation, the boards, just plain everywhere. It was left in the walls and no tests were ever done to determine if it was in fact dangerous. I heard the landlord tell her employee that she was not putting anymore money into our place. Its been almost a year and they never returned to finish the kitchen or to do any work on our bathrooms.
Just to put a little history into this here page. We have lived in this apartment for about 7 years. Since moving in we have had the sewer back up into our apartment on several occasions not to mention ceilings caving in due to leaks. The complex has not once replaced the carpet or for that matter cleaned it either. I have cleaned the carpet on a few occasions but not doing the job properly I’m sure.
We have continued to complain about the mold problems and have asked to be moved into another apartment but have been brushed off. After doing some research on toxic molds over the internet, we have become very scared at realizing that we all have many of the symptoms associated with these toxic molds. People are becoming very sick and dying from this stuff, and here we are living with it. I contacted an attorney here in San Antonio with full details about our situation, a few weeks later they called us to set up an appointment for today.
Yesterday I went into the bathrooms to take some pictures and discovered even more mold where I had cleaned before. I took these pictures with me to the lawyers office. We met with an assistant who took all our information and history, when I showed her the pictures she was in shock. She immediately got up saying she had to show these pictures to the lawyer before he left. After about 15 minutes the lawyer came in and informed us that they were not interested in our case. Cited that them getting the mold tested to find out if we had a case was expensive.
Both me and my wife are disabled with cerebral palsy, our income doesn’t allow for us to get the tests done or for us to just up and move. Both our families are over 300 miles away. If we report our landlord we fear she will look for and find a reason for eviction, she has been known for doing this. then what? We are out on the streets. from what I’ve read, if this mold is actually one that’s doing harm.. we lose everything we own. I mean everything. pictures of our kids, furniture, clothing, personal belongings, diplomas, birth certificates, marriage license, appliances and even this computer that I’m making this page from. Hence the word EVERYTHING. People are burning down their homes with everything in them in order to rebuild on their property.
I am not looking for any kind of handout or even to get rich off of this. I just want a solution that don’t include my family being put out on the streets. I know laws are here to protect us.. but here in the real world.. we will get evicted if we stir the waters. Look at it like this. Laws state one must not steal or kill. It happens everyday. I don’t want to end up losing everything and having to leave San Antonio cause lack of funds or family here. Most importantly I don’t want my children getting sicker or worse.
Update on problem below: The mold has been tested and is in fact Stachybotrys mold, which is the toxic mold that’s doing so much harm.
Author: Carolyn Willbanks
