The Silent Killers

From 1996 until 2000 I lived with my lover, an Episcopal priest, in the brownstone rectory of his New York City Church. In the spring of 2000 I developed what I thought was sinusitis, violent headaches and fevers. My condition did not respond to antibiotics. I slipped into a coma and was taken by ambulance to St Vincent’s Hospital where a cat scan and MRI revealed a brain abscess. Apparently the house had leaks behind the walls and the toxic mold Stachybotrys caused a sinus infection that translated into a brain abscess. I was violently sick after the surgery and was treated with Flagyl and Rocephon. I improved enough after six months to go back to work in the spring of 2001.

My partner died suddenly after a brief illness. I had cognitive and memory problems related to my brain injury and resigned my job as a librarian in August 2002. I got a widow’s benefit from the Episcopal church. I probably could have sued the Diocese of Long Island for allowing us to live in conditions like that, but we lived in a poor neighborhood and actually were better off than many of our parishioners. Visited the old rectory one last time before moving out here to Oregon.

Funny, the diocese very quietly gutted the property and is now renovating the whole thing. Hmmm…

Author: Carolyn Willbanks