When Adrie Garcia and her family moved into their first home in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, they were ecstatic. Adrie, her husband Jessie, and their children finally owned a home after years of hard work. It was a dream come true.
Three months after moving into their dream home – it quickly became a nightmare when Adrie started experiencing frightening symptoms.
“It all started with severe migraine headaches accompanied with bizarre symptoms like complete confusion, I was unable to process language, tingling and numbness in my arms, face, and back; and back and neck pain,” Adrie explained.
Adrie, the 34-year-old wife, mother, gymnastics coach, and college professor was used to dealing with stress, but could the stress be causing these harrowing symptoms? Adrie and her husband were grappling with what could possibly be causing all of this. Was it stress? Was it nutrition? Nothing could be pinpointed.
Within a couple of months, the symptoms only progressed – leaving Adrie in debilitating pain.
“The migraines started coming about once a week in August, which quickly progressed to 2 and 3 times a week by October. They also began to last 3 and 4 days,” she stated.
By January, just 8 months after moving into their home, Adrie’s symptoms had begun to completely take over her life. Along with migraines, pain, and nerve issues, she was starting to have terrifying personality changes.
“I began to have personality changes, like being afraid to go out for fear it might hit me while going grocery shopping or getting my hair done, and I became anxious and depressed,” Adried said. “This increasingly alarming situation landed me in the ER and countless doctors and alternative doctors’ offices where no one could figure out what was going on.”
Despite countless doctors visits, including acupuncture and naturopathy, no one could figure out what was happening to the young Colorado mom.
For months, Adrie was searching for answers, all while dealing with these completely debilitating symptoms that were only getting worse by the day. She soon started experiencing a second type of attack that would cause an electrical wave to wash over her head, causing her neck to lock and extreme confusion.
“I was having a hard time with word recall, having trouble following a conversation. I began having much more generalized pain on a daily basis, basically tired and achy all the time. It was very difficult to do my regular daily activities,” Adrie explained.
Finally, things reached a tipping point when she experienced a seizure while coaching a gymnastics meet.
Adrie was rushed to the ER, where tests were conducted, and yet again – no answers were found. What could possibly be causing a healthy 34-year-old woman’s health to decline so rapidly? She and her family were determined to get to the bottom of all of this.
After scouring the internet, Adrie started to find websites and YouTube videos that talked about toxin exposure and migraines. In one of the videos, she found a naturopath that cured a woman’s migraines after discovering that her bedroom, located over her garage, was seeping toxic chemicals. It was then that Adrie started to scour her home.
Only after doing her own research did Adrie discover that there was a shocking growth of black mold in the home that she and her family purchased less than a year before.
“My bedroom was above my garage as well, and a conversation we had with our home inspector came flying back to my mind. He told us there was “old mold” in the garage, that he could tell it was dead by the red color, it was testing dry with his moisture meter,” she said.
“He said we could hire another inspector if we wanted, but he kept reassuring us that it was testing dry. Sure enough, I took my ladder downstairs and that whole area was black. This area of the garage happened to extend into the master bedroom wall.”
Adrie returned to her doctors, only to have her worst fear confirmed – she was being completely poisoned by black mold.
Although there was an element of relief to know what was causing her potentially fatal symptoms, it completely uprooted Adrie’s entire family. Due to the black mold, they had to move out of their home, and deal with a major financial burden on their plate.
Their HVAC system has to be replaced, as well as their carpet. The family needs to get rid of all of their pillows, mattresses, and any other porous item in their house, as spores could find them as a food source. Their dream home was an unlivable toxic zone. Plus, the mounting medical bills have caused an immense burden on their family.
She has set up a GoFundMe page, humbly asking to help with the costs of clearing their home of mold, as well as the medical bills that have accumulated, and her future medical treatment.
Adrie, her husband, and children are all staying with family members, doing their best to get through this trying time. Adrie’s health has been on the mend since she left the house, but it’s going to be a long road to recovery.
“Once I finish the current treatment…then we have to address the different deficiencies at play; this could include hormone injections, treating vitamin deficiencies…and finally some regenerative work like hyperbaric oxygen therapy and infared light therapy,” she explained.
“I have not been given any deadline to expect it all to resolve, just trying to take it day by day. I have met another biotoxin survivor who got help in September and she is about 60% better, so I am hoping less than a year before I am fully recovered.”
More than anything, Adrie just wants people to be aware that they need to advocate for your health – no one is going to do it for you, sometimes, not even doctors.
“Advocate for your health and do your research because no one will do that for you. Susceptibility to biotoxin illness is a genetic predisposition that 24% of the population has.”
“Toxigenic mold will eventually make everyone in the house sick, but some are much more vulnerable to getting sick first. Just because you are the only one falling ill does not mean it it is not an environmental issue.”
Be sure to check your home around any water damaged area, as well as your HVAC system. If you suspect you have mold, call a remediation company immediately. If you believe that you have been exposed to mold, Adrie suggests seeing a naturopath or Shoemaker certified doctor for testing and treatment.
To help with Adrie and her family’s mold recovery and medical bills, you can donate to their GoFundMe Page here. Please share this story with friends and family.
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