A Mystery Solved

When I was going through the Worker's Comp lawsuit at the school where I got my ILD, there were whispers of a previous lawsuit by a family. Both children were ill. Extremely ill. The mom was shouting from the rooftops that it was caused by mold at the school. Then, just two years later, I showed up with a disease specifically caused by an antigen from an environment of mold, fungus or organic dust.

Some wonderful person with inside information phoned me, gave me this information and that was what gave me the confidence to go forward in my lawsuit, which we settled four years after I left on disability.

I am a member of the school's Facebook alum site and once a month, they list all the former student's birthdays for the month. If they have a Facebook account, it is linked. This morning, I was looking at the list, visiting some of the sites to give my best to students I haven't seen for many years, enjoying the photos and reading what they are doing in their lives as adults.

There was the name of the student who was so sick. I clicked onto the site.

There were lots of birthday wishes but almost everyone's comments included what a strong person she was and wishing her healing. As I kept scrolled down, it finally showed up. She had Lyme Disease. All those many years ago, she wasn't suffering from mold exposure, it was Lyme Disease. Apparently, she is still really ill.

The school was on 33 acres filled with foxes, large cats and tons of deer. Often, I thought there were more deer than people. They were everywhere. Along with the deer, there were ticks. We used to have to check the children after playing in the brush or "butt sliding" down a hill.

Sometimes on the weekends, I would take William to the school so we could hike the trails and play on the butt slide. He came to me days after one of our visits and said he had this thing on his knee. It was a tick with the perfect bulls eye of Lyme Disease. There had been a small hole in his pants while on the slide. He had already picked the body off but the head remained. I rushed him to the doctor, they removed the head and began a large run of antibiotics. We learned that not all bites show a bulls eye and we were lucky.

Those many years ago, the family lost their mold lawsuit when they allowed an inspection of their home, mold was present and they could not prove whether the possible mold illness was from the school or the home.

Towards the end of my Worker's Comp lawsuit, the other side demanded an inspection of our home - four years after I left the school. That seemed totally unreasonable to me. How would they prove that same mold was there four years earlier? We fought it, my lawyer was brilliant and the request was denied. They appealed. That was a difficult time waiting for the decision. The appeal board agreed with the judge and they were not allowed to inspect our home. The suit was settled shortly afterwards.

I had wondered about this family for years and whether the former students were still ill or were healthy adults. The older child is apparently doing really well. Thankfully.