/ Published in Mold Story

Our Mold Story: A Journey We Never Expected

 

Family sitting together in a grassy field, embracing with love and connection — part of our mold story journey to healing.

 

Sometimes the path to healing begins with heartbreak. This is our mold story—a journey through hidden mold exposure, unraveling health, and the rebuilding that followed. If you’re reading this, you might be facing something unexpected—something that’s quietly disrupted your health, your home, and the life you once trusted. If so, we’re so sorry. We know how dark and confusing those early days can be. You are not alone.

This mold story series grew from our desire to help others navigate what we once faced alone. When we were in the thick of it—managing unexplained symptoms, spiraling expenses, and the fear that no one understood—we would have given anything to hear from someone who had walked this road before. Mold doesn’t just affect your house—it touches every part of your life. Studies estimate that over 50% of U.S. homes may struggle with mold or dampness, a number that reminds us why we share—for families still searching for answers, and for those who need to know they’re not alone. ¹

Why We’re Telling Our Mold Story

Before mold entered the picture, we were a typical family with simple hopes and big plans. We had just bought an old house—worn, but full of charm—and we saw it as a blank canvas. We dreamed of fixing it up room by room, planting a garden, and raising our kids in a place rooted in nature and possibility. Weekend projects, porch dinners, barefoot summers—life felt full of promise. That house seemed like the beginning of something good. What we didn’t realize was that something harmful was already living inside it.

Mold affected nearly every part of our lives. Our health declined to the point where we could barely care for ourselves—let alone our children. Simple tasks became overwhelming. Exhaustion, brain fog, and chronic pain made daily life feel impossible. Our children developed symptoms too, and we watched helplessly as their health began to decline. At the same time, financial stress hit hard. Medical bills piled up, work became difficult to maintain, and the cost of testing and treatment kept rising. We lost our sense of safety in our home. And as we tried to explain what was happening, some relationships faded—strained by disbelief or misunderstanding. Emotionally, we were unraveling. We weren’t just surviving an illness; we were losing our way of life.

Who This Mold Story Is For

This is for the exhausted mom trying to figure out why her child is suddenly sick all the time. For the dad who used to feel clear-headed and capable but now struggles to make it through the workday. It’s for the families staring down impossible remediation quotes, for those sleeping in borrowed spaces or campers, and for anyone who’s faced doctor after doctor without answers. This is for the ones barely holding it together, hoping someone will finally understand.

If that’s you, you’ve found safe ground here.

What This Mold Story Series Covers

This blog series is broken into 14 parts, each a step on the road we walked—from the innocent days life before mold, to diagnosis, detox, financial loss, and ultimately, healing.

Here’s a glimpse of what’s ahead:

  • Part 1 – The Beginning of Our Mold Story: Life Before Mold

  • Part 2 – Missed Mold Symptoms: The strange signs and the subtle decline in our health.

  • Part 3 – Diagnosing Mold Illness: How we finally uncovered the environmental root cause.

  • Part 4 – Mycotoxins vs Mold Spores: Understanding the science that traditional medicine missed.

  • Part 5 – How to Test for Mold in Your Home: What we learned about ERMI and air sampling.

  • Part 6 – After a Mold Diagnosis: First steps, hard decisions, and leaving it all behind.

  • Part 7 – Finding a Mold-Literate Doctor: The challenge of getting real help.

  • Part 8 – Mold Recovery Basics: Detox, drainage, and regaining strength.

  • Part 9 – Mold Remediation: Letting go of contaminated belongings and rebuilding.

  • Part 10 – Financial Fallout: What mold really cost us—and how we began again.

  • Part 11 – Support Systems: Learning to ask for help and finding community.

  • Part 12 – Resources That Helped Most: The books, labs, and guides that saved us time and money.

  • Part 13 – Life After Mold: How this journey shaped how we now live and parent.

  • Part 14 – A Final Word: Why your story matters, and why we’ll never stop sharing ours.

These entries blend our personal experiences with practical guidance—meant to offer comfort, clarity, and encouragement to those still searching. What began as our hardest season ultimately became a calling to help others.

Learning to Live Differently: What Mold Revealed

This part of our mold story speaks to how the experience reshaped not just our health, but our entire way of living. There came a point when survival was all we could manage. We were sleeping on borrowed bedding, letting go of the life we thought we were building, and watching the home we once loved transform into a place of fear and loss. Everything we thought we knew had been swept away.

Mold didn’t just take our belongings—it upended our rhythm, our routines, and our sense of security. It forced us to pause and reevaluate everything. What began as a crisis slowly revealed a need for change we hadn’t seen before.

In the quiet that followed, we began to live differently. We paid closer attention to the small things—the warmth of sun on our skin, the crunch of leaves underfoot, the calm of fresh air and nourishing food. We turned inward, listening more closely to our bodies and to nature’s wisdom. Healing didn’t come all at once, but it began the moment we stopped clinging to what was and started creating something new.

This shift didn’t just help us survive—it reshaped our values, our routines, and how we define well-being. We discovered resilience in slowness, grace in simplicity, and purpose in helping others find their way through. Mold revealed what truly mattered and showed us how to build a life that reflects it.

Coming Next: Part 1– The Beginning of Our Mold Story: Life Before Mold

¹ Fisk, W.J., Lei-Gomez, Q., & Mendell, M.J. (2007). Meta-analyses of the associations of respiratory health effects with dampness and mold in homes. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2007, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1155/2007/310852