A Big Step Towards Change

This week Leah filed paperwork with the Attorney General’s office. We will continue supporting her fight for change every step of the way.  I am proud of her for speaking up and for finding a way to use such a horrible experience to make a difference for others.  This cannot keep being ignored and we will do all we can to be sure that it doesn’t.  It doesn't just affect students and faculty, but affects generations to come.  It is time to put your actions where your stated values and morals are Texas A&M.  

Here is a petition for another dorm building on Texas A&M’s campus with hundreds of stories of people being sick from the mold in that building.  Please sign, share, and help us raise more attention for this horrific issue.  Together we can create change! 

https://www.change.org/p/replace-the-corps-dorm-hvac-system?source_location=psf_petitions

And lastly, here is the link to a podcast that Leah got to be a part of shining light on the college mold epidemic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DiEUgc2fHw

Where This Story Begins

My goal in writing this out in length and detail is to bring awareness to others about the dangers of mold, to inform about the gaslighting and bad information surrounding the issue, to help others who may be in a similar situation, and for accountability.  If we just sit silent, nothing will change.

August 2023, an eager, freshly turned 19 year old packed up her things, ready to take on University life.  She gathered her graduation gifts, all the new bedding and gadgets she'd bought or received, the necessities, and a few treasured comforts.  She had not only dreamed of this day since she was four, but she worked her tail off to get to this day.  She actually worked so hard that she graduated college with her Associates degree two weeks before she finished high school.  She knocked out her prerequisites and headed off to pursue her dream of nursing school.  She didn't apply to any other schools because being an Aggie has been her dream...always.  This girl has a strong sense of morals and values and Texas A&M seemed to exude those.

We moved Leah into her dorm on a Thursday in August.  This was her first time to live on her own...her first year...such a momentous and exciting time.  I stayed that night and spent Friday running back and forth to Target for last minute needs and to help make sure we got every extension cord run and hidden just right and every decoration put in the perfect place.  The room looked great and although it was the hardest good bye things were going great.  I left a healthy, happy, excited daughter at the door that night.

The weekend was a whirl for Leah.  Catching up with old friends, making new ones, attending events, finding a church, and getting ready for the first day of school Monday.  By late Friday she was not feeling well and by Sunday she was headed downhill quickly.  We all assumed it was allergies or that she picked up a bug or something with so many kids coming together.  With classes starting the next day, she made a Telehealth appointment to see what they thought.  Her eyes were bloodshot and itchy.  She had a headache and typical allergy/cold like symptoms.  They recommended a specific antihistamine so off she went to find it.  They told her to call back if it hadn't helped in 24 hours or if she got any worse.  She hardly slept that night because she just did not feel good and her eyes would not stop bothering her.  

This was actually a few days in on steroids

She woke up Monday, her first day of classes on a beautiful college campus, and her eyes were swollen shut.  She got ready the best she could and took off for class.  You can imagine how hard it is to navigate a new to you campus, the largest university campus in the nation no less, but to do it the very first time without being able to clearly see where you are going and while feeling terrible is quite a feat.  She made it on the right buses, to the right classes, and found the dinning hall for lunch.  She felt even worse though and was so down about the fact that her first impressions were stumbling around while people went out of their way to avoid her and whatever was going on with her.  I told her I really wanted her to be seen by a doctor in person.  She begrudgingly went to the campus clinic.  I think she would have done anything to just get well at that point.  They said it could be allergies or possibly a reaction to a medicine she'd been on.  Leah asked her if it could be mold or something in her dorm room as it seemed to be connected and she said "maybe".  We paged the doctor who prescribed the medicine in question and checked with the pharmacist and they both agreed this was absolutely not what was happening.  So back to square zero.  She did another Telehealth appointment that evening and they said they really thought it was extreme allergies.  They recommended more OTC meds and called in a steroid.  Adulting 101 right off that bat...find a pharmacy...while dealing with vision issues...get there to find they don't have the meds in stock...find a new pharmacy to transfer to...get to that pharmacy before close.  It was definitely not the first day of school any of us anticipated.

As the week progressed, Leah started feeling some improvement.  The steroid helped her eyes settle down and despite the insomnia it brought, she was feeling better about things finally.  Her last day on the steroid we were talking and she commented on how she felt "great"!  I switched the call to FaceTime and this is what a week of steroids, too many allergy meds, and feeling "great" look like.

Hardly great to this mama.  She continued feeling alright through the weekend, but as soon as the steroid had worn off, everything came back exactly the same.  We decided at that time that she needed to see someone local to find some clearer answers.  She found a primary care doc that was taking new patients (more adulting two weeks in to school).  She saw the doctor and explained what had been going on.  They gave her a steroid shot, instructions to stay on all the allergy meds (oral, nose sprays, eye drops) and encouraged her to pick up an at home mold test at Home Depot.  The doctor told her she felt that something in Leah's dorm room was causing this all.  Leah did as she was told and got the kit.  It takes a few days to test so Leah set up the petri dish and came home for Labor Day weekend.  

Over the weekend home, her eyes began clearing up.  Her skin that had been fiery red settled down.  In just 3 days, she looked so much better.  We were certain it was something in the dorm making her sick at that point.  There was too much coincidence in how she felt, when and where.  She often would tell me, "I feel worse in my room.  I just don't want to go to my room" as she wandered all over campus trying to avoid the inevitable.

She left home on Labor Day looking and feeling almost normal for the first time since moving.  When she got to her dorm room she found this.  The mold test was definitely growing mold and numerous types at that.  Leah was ecstatic that she had figured out what was happening and could now get it fixed and get to feeling better.  This room had sat empty the entire time the mold kit was out.  No one in or out.  No showering or water running.  

She immediately contacted her RA who was also shocked by this.  She encouraged her to fill out a maintenance request form.   Leah did so that night.  She told them there was mold in her room and that it was making her very sick and had been since she moved in.

Tuesday, the 5th, someone from maintenance came by to look at the room.  She showed him the crack in the wall and all of the bubbling paint in her bathroom.  We noticed some bubbling at move in and foolishly thought it was old damage because it had been painted over.  The bubbling had gotten significantly worse, especially behind a cabinet Leah had in the bathroom.

The maintenance worker said he didn't really deal with mold, but that he would send someone who did.

A few days later, Leah followed up with her RA and was told that Environmental Health and Safety. (EHS) had come and taken an air quality test and that there was no mold.  On this report it claimed that the mold test was the only mold in the room and needed to be thrown away.   They said that the room was more humid than it should be, but offered no resolve in fixing that.  The AC system is controlled outside of the individual rooms, there is no vent for the bathroom, and as such literally no way for the student to impact the humidity.  The report states that the vents in the room were "clean and free of debris".

By this point in time, Leah would call several times a day, three-fourths of those calls hysterical.   I noticed more and she was struggling to come up with simple words in conversations.  I thought it was just distraction or exhaustion.  One day in particular, she called while she was in line for pulling football tickets.  She was so excited for Aggie football season.  She called moments later and I could hardly understand her.  She had pulled her ticket, walked back to her dorm nearby, and could not find her ticket anywhere.  She lost her keys repeatedly.  She complained that she could not focus in class and could not remember lessons one day to the next.  The following day she called even more upset.  Through sobs she told me that she went to take her first test and couldn't remember how to spell her name.  I tried to get her to settle down so I could understand what she meant and she meant just that.  She could not figure out what letter went first in her name.  I knew then regardless of what was happening, whatever it was, something was really wrong.  Every joint in her body was now hurting all the time and she wanted nothing more than to lay in bed except she wanted to not be in her room more than that.  She said she was considering sleeping in her car.  I offered to put her in a hotel until we sorted things out, but she didn't want to go through all of that.  I think she still questioned if something was really going on and what.

Leah was scared and so were we.  She was also determined to figure out what was going on.  Leah had complained that the room was muggy and wet feeling.  She was plagued with anxiety and insomnia anytime she was in the room.  On September 14th, during an insomnia episode, she went to her car and retrieved her tool box.  She set search in the room for what could be causing her to be so sick and her rapid decline.  She pulled the vent off the bathroom wall because she felt humidity there all the time and immediately the mirror beneath it fogged up.  This was odd because she hadn't showered yet that day.  She called and let me know that the vent was disgusting and there was definitely something in there.

This grey fluffy stuff was coating the entire inside of the vent.  Hardly clean and free of debris.  Add moisture to this and I think it is a pretty good environment for mold to thrive.

I asked Leah to notify her RA.  She did and was told to fill out another maintenance request which she did that night.  She also mentioned the dirty vent and high humidity.  She continued to look around the room and noticed that the crack in the wall had opened up further and there was black spots all underneath it.  She mentioned both of these things to her RA, who was in agreement something wasn't right.  She was kind and helpful every step of the way.

At my request, Leah asked her RA if we could hire a mold inspector to check the room.  She asked her boss and got back to us to say that we could not.

Someone from maintenance brought in a shop vac and vacuum "cleaned" the vent.  No precautions taken.  As you would expect this sent it all airborne and made Leah feel even worse.  Not only that, but it made a huge mess.  Leah's RA checked in with her and Leah told her what they had done and that the humidity still wasn't being addressed.

The next night, Leah came home and someone had set up a dehumidifier.  This was plugged in on one side of her bedroom, power cord strung across the room to the dehumidifier and then had a hose running across the bathroom to the sink.  As you can imagine, this monstrous thing was NOISY and cumbersome to navigate around, especially with cords and hoses everywhere.  There was no information given if this was temporary or would be spending the rest of the year there.  No information given on whether or not the issue causing the high humidity would ever be addressed.  Nothing.  It was pretty clear that we were getting a bit of a run around at this point.  It seemed they were just trying to get us to give up instead of truly addressing the issues.

Later that day I came into town for a visit.  I checked the room and had big concerns, as well.  I opened the vent and checked the crack and agreed that they had to come retest.  It just didn't make any sense.  I was only in the room for 30 minutes or so, before heading out to the game.  I felt itchy in the room.  By the time we left the game, I had a sore throat and my eyes itched.  This is what they looked like.  Whatever doubts or questions I had were gone at that point.  I returned home and by the next day, they had cleared up.  We asked about getting her moved out of that room and that wasn't an option unless she wanted to move to an apartment and pay $$$ more.  

Monday, Leah returned from class to find two individuals outside of her room.  It was a woman from Facilities Maintenance and the gentlemen who was a campus mold inspector from EHS.  We later learned he was the same one that inspected the room the first time.  He was cold and very upset that Leah had requested them to come back out.  He asked her if she even knew how to read the report or knew what she was talking about.  She started crying, overwhelmed, defeated, and tired.  No one had even asked her what was going on, how she felt, nothing.  She was made to believe she was an uneducated nuisance.  The woman saw Leah get upset and began talking to her.  She asked what had happened and listened to Leah. The gentlemen told Leah there was no mold in the room and said he was going to collect swab samples to prove it.  Leah asked if he could swab the black spores on the wall in the bathroom.  He told her "You're not lying on the floor in the bathroom so that wouldn't bother you.  If there was mold in here your air purifier would take care of it".  Neither of these is true.  I don't know if this is a case of lack of knowledge or gaslighting, but every step of the way it seemed like they were doubling down and refusing to acknowledge a serious issue.  I do not understand what harm there would have been in swabbing that area.  They told Leah they would rush the results on this inspection.

Later that evening, Leah's RA told her she was told she could no longer talk to her about the room issues and that she needed to go through a specific Residence Life lead.  The next day, Wednesday,  I got a call from said person saying they would let us know what they found out and explaining why there wasn't mold in the room. I emailed him the picture of the peeling wallpaper covered in black spores.  Later he called back with the "good news" that there was no mold found in the room again.  I was in shock.  I asked him what the black spots were in the photo and he said it was hard to tell from a picture.  Um, then go to the room and see.  He said I needed to decide what I was going to do regarding moving her or not.  It was an incredibly frustrating conversation and it was clear it wasn't going anywhere.....at least not where common sense would go.  At the end of the call, I asked again if we could hire a mold inspector.  I explained the false info on the first report, stating the vents were clean and free of debris and mentioned the fact that they refused to swab the black spots.  He told me that legally they could not tell me no.  We asked for the second report.  Being told that there was nothing wrong in the room for the fifth week in a row left Leah feeling crazy.  It was obvious yet everyone seemed to ignore it.  It felt like there wasn't any care or consideration given to what Leah was going through or what was happening with her body.  

Here is the second EHS campus mold inspector's report.  Of course it again showed a clean room with no mold concerns.  

Since we were now permitted to hire our own mold inspector, I went to work finding one.  I was able to speak to someone at Texas Mold Inspectors (TMI) and set up an inspection for Friday.  It was going to be a costly inspection, but we knew we had to figure out what was going on with Leah and eliminate the possibility that it could be mold.  I knew nothing about mold or what it does to one's body.  

Friday morning, I traveled to College Station and met Josh with TMI at Leah's dorm.  Leah was at class so I let Josh in and showed him the areas of concern.  He was immediately concerned that there was indeed mold there.  I left and let him get to work.  Several hours later, he informed me that the room was absolutely filthy and full of mold.  He said he was condemning her room and all of her belongings.  He said there was most certainly mycotoxins on every item.  I didn't even know what mycotoxins were.  I would so learn that mycotoxins are poisonous substances produced by fungi or mold that can be toxic to humans when consumed, absorbed through the skin, or inhaled.  Here are some of his pictures of the hundreds he shared with me.

        White mold on cabinets in bedroom

100% moisture meter reading on bathroom walls

         Water line on wall under bed

Black mold carpeting the wall between the 

bathroom and bedroom 

Black mold under wall paper on same wall

So Leah returned from class and I had to tell her that first off, she was exactly right.  There was no doubt a substantial and harmful amount of mold in her room.  She trusted her gut, followed the obvious, and continued to push through despite being told she was wrong.  She is so smart, so in tuned with her body, and perseveres with love and grace even when being gaslight.  Secondly, I had to tell her that ALL of her belongings and her room were condemned.  Her clothes, her books and notes, her laptop, all of her graduation gifts and things she bought to make her room just right, family photos, childhood keepsakes......everything.  Five weeks in to the year.  Gone.  Both pieces of news were equally devastating.  She collapsed and was absolutely heartbroken.  A million questions poured out once she caught her breath.  What am I supposed to do about classes and my homework due today?  Why wouldn't they listen to me?  Why wouldn't they swab it?  How did they ignore the obvious signs and put me in this room to begin with?  What am I supposed to wear?  What about everyone else in the dorm?  They have to be getting the same mycotoxins, too.  I tried my best to console her with just as many questions swirling in my head.  What were we going to do?  Would they put her somewhere different now?  What does this all mean?  How are we going to replace ALL of the things we just purchased for her?  Is the damage to her body permanent?

Josh finished collecting samples and gathering info.  He said that he was getting sick just being in the room.  I asked him what we were supposed to do and he said he would get a letter to us ASAP stating that the room was unfit for human occupancy.   Since it felt like every conversation with school was a battle and since Josh was the one with the knowledge, I asked if he would stay around and talk the Res Life contact we were working with.  He agreed and I called and asked them to come.  He came over, as well as several maintenance workers, and a gentleman we had not met yet from Operations and Events (O&E).  He said that he had heard something going on and decided to come along.  Our Res Life contact, a facilities maintenance worker, and maintenance joined Josh in the room.  He showed them what he found and even taught maintenance how to use their moisture meters.  ahem..... no comment....  The O&E gentlemen found Leah immediately and started talking to her.  Are you okay?  What has been going on?  and a million more questions came on.  By the end of his time with her he knew all of her favorite things, understood what she was going through, and showed true Aggie morals with how much he cared about Leah.  Thank God for that man.

When they came out, I asked, "now that we know that there is mold in the room making her sick, how do we get her moved out?".  Res Life rolled his eyes, pointed in Josh's direction and replied, "in his OPINION".  I came unglued.  I took a step forward and asked him how in the heck he just saw that with his eyes, heard directly from a MASTER certified mold inspector, and could say this was an opinion.  I quickly realized I was headed for the 5 o'clock news and told him I wanted to speak to someone else... his boss, anyone else.  He obliged and got a director from Res Life to come over.  I explained what was going on to her.  Everyone else had gone back in the room again.  I showed her pictures and invited her to go see.  She said she had health issues and did not care to be anywhere near it.  Everyone eventually came back out and Josh asked for access to the AC system since it was a shared system and all the rooms shared air.  This request was denied, but he made clear that he felt the whole building could be condemned if he had access to that.  He proceeded to leave when the facilities maintenance worker told him she was just sharing the message that he was not allowed to take samples from the room with him.  I don't know what is or isn't allowed, but this seemed off to me.  Josh said he was absolutely allowed to take them with him and they could have their lawyers call them.  He later would say this was just a scare tactic to try and get him to leave proof behind.  He assured us all that he would get back to us with the results.

Some of the team worked on lining up a new room for Leah finally.  They offered for her to stay in a study room with a bunk in a different building and would let us know the price difference....ahem....... or she could have the room above her current one.  Right... with the contaminated walls.  I truly don't think they know how toxins works.  We opted for the different building study room, as I am certain moving to the room above would not have helped.  It was late Friday afternoon at this point and my poor child had nothing.  It was obvious that she couldn't just stay there.  We decided I'd take her home so we could figure out what she needed.   We raided the closet for camp sheets and towels, bought a new laptop and medical things she needed.  She had some off season clothes in her closet and we went and bought a pair of tennis shoes.  She stayed home for the weekend and was obviously exhausted.  Sunday came and we realized she didn't have boots for her dance lessons that night.  We stopped and bought some on the way up.  We got her settled in and I came on home.

Monday she went to classes, but called by midday and said she couldn't do it.  She was dropping out.  I had my mom go with me and we drove up to see her.  She had packed what little stuff she had up and looked horrible.  Mom drove her home while I put on a protective suit and video inventoried her room.  I assumed this was the end of TAMU for us. 

At home there was lots of sleep and lots of tears.  She still felt horrible and had the most persistent cough.  Every few seconds she would cough.  We got in to a doctor and on meds for wheezing, coughing, and bronchitis.  The week was full of appointments and weighing decisions.  It seemed none of the doctors we could find knew how to treat mold exposure and the few that did have first appointments months away.  She spent much time sitting in this spot, soaking the sun and feeling all the feels.  She contemplated going back, but truly didn't feel like she had it in her.  Her deadline for nursing school was fast approaching, as well, and that seeemed like way more than she could handle now despite all of her hard work to get to the point she was at.  She contemplated everything.  She shared with me just how dark her thoughts had gotten and how desperate she had felt.  Truly heartbreaking to hear.  She had written some letters and shared them with the people from the school who were involved.  I'll share them in a separate post some time.

After a few days, Leah started logging on to her schoolwork and knocking things out.  I knew that Aggie spirit in her was still burning.  By the end of the week, she decided she would go back.  So we loaded up the car and planned move number 6 for the month (we had moved homes the week before the first college move in).  Leah began to settle back in despite feeling terrible.  A few weeks later she submitted a urinalysis for mycotoxin screening.   After that she came home for a few days in November to see a local doctor who was supposed to be familiar with mold.  Of course all of these appointments meant time away from classes.  The local doctor told her she needed to drop out of school and move back home now.  She said that treatment would be too intense to do on her own.  Leah had just gotten back into routine and felt good about being back at school.  She was devastated.  We talked over the very confusing packets of info the doctor sent us with.  She had fought so hard to get to this point and really didn't want to quit.  We decided we would do whatever we had to do to support her and make it work if she wanted to stay.  We knew she would be on a strict diet which is impossible to do on a meal plan.  Since the dorm room didn't have a kitchen, we planned out driving up weekly to meal prep if need be.  We were all determined to support her efforts.

She had a lot of other tests and appointments and rested some between school assignments.  She updated her professors every single step of this journey and notified them when she would miss class or need an extension.  We eventually had accommodations put in place just to be official and allow her extensions on tests.  Her professors were so very caring and compassionate every step of the way.  One even sat and listened as she sobbed about not feeling like she could handle nursing school.  There is such a high burnout rate and she already felt burned out and defeated.  This professor talked to her about all the things she loved about nursing and helped her discover a new career path the she is even more excited for.  They and her small group friends are 100% the reason she went back.  Every single time she would come home saying she was done, their encouragement pulled her back up.  I am so thankful for them.  In addition to them, the one O&E employee that was so kind the day of the inspection continuously reached out to her.  He made such a difference.  It was neat to see the Aggie spirit alive and well in some of the staff.

I will post another update with what happened after settling in and where we are at now soon.  I feel like this is already way too long.  It seeemed a lot of the details were important though.  I hope and pray that no one ever has to go through this.  However, if someone does, I hope they find something helpful in this.

Leah's Letters

These are letters Leah shared with the school administration we dealt with.  It is a look into her heart and the overwhelmingness of this whole ordeal.  Leah's heart from day 1 has been wanting to help be part of the solution to the issue, to share her experience because there is NO way they would let this happen to a single more student if they understood what she went through.  Sadly, sans a few people expressing their apologies, she didn't see any results.  Her heart still is centered on accountability and awareness.  I have chosen not to name individuals because it became apparent this is a campus issue, not just an individual issue.  This is why names have been taken out.

This was written the night before the third party inspector that we hired inspected the room.

Note for those involved with mold

I write this to you so that you can see from my perspective how this situation has affected, hurt, and impacted me. On August 17th I moved into my first dorm on a college campus eyes wide with excitement and a stomach full of butterflies for the adventure to come. Never in all of my thought through scenarios in my head did I think that I would spend the first 5 weeks more sick than I ever have been in my life. The whole day I felt awful, I originally thought it was just a mixture of normal allergies from being in a new environment and anxiety. Within the next few days I got progressively worse. On my first day of class merely days after moving in my eyes were swollen shut. I could hardly see and was in a lot of pain. I could tell people looked at me differently, no one wanted to sit next to me, and some people flat out ignored me. It was difficult to focus in class and to think straight from the headache I had, pain, swollen eyes, and consciousness that I was already not fitting in. Over the next few days I attended 4 different doctor appointments in which I was prescribed or told to get over the counter 5 antihistamines and 2 steroids. These only somewhat helped with the side effects not the actual allergic reaction itself. Without the allergens being removed it is not possible to not have side effects or symptoms. I visited the pharmacy at least 6 times during this period. After talking to my RA about the issue she told me to fill out a form for maintenance. So I did as she told me to. Mr.(name removed) came and looked at everything, I showed him pictures of a mold test I had conducted, told him about my concerns of the ceiling bubbling and cracks in the walls, and the humidity of the bathroom. He put in a request for an air quality test. I asked if that would be applicable since this was mold I was dealing with. He said that they didn’t have any mold tests and this was the best thing to do. The test was conducted while I was at class and I was told days later by my RA that they found no mold. This wasn’t true as they did find mold but according to their results it wasn’t sufficient for any issues. My RA and her boss both agreed that it didn’t make sense and told me to request that another test be performed. So I requested another test. After doing so I had multiple people come to “clean” the vent. Which did not in fact clean it. They tried with a vacuum that did pretty much nothing. Then with cleaning supplies which the custodian admitted couldn’t be cleaned without the right equipment that they didn’t have. Eventually I had Mr. (name removed) and Ms.(name removed) come to retest the air quality. Again, the test was not for mold but for air quality with some form of finding mold counts. I was looked down upon and treated as if I was an annoyance, dumb, and meaningless by Mr.(name removed). I was very uncomfortable as everything I said was shot down and I felt unheard and like what I was physically feeling and emotionally feeling was invalid. Ms.(name removed) caught on and apologized for the disturbances and that I was dealing with this. She was very kind to me and treat me like an adult and equal. She made me feel more comfortable and cared about. Later on that night I found mold growing in the crack in the bathroom. It was growing all behind the wallpaper and when my family brought it up to Mr.(name removed) they said that the test said that there was no mold so they would not be doing anything about it. At this point 5 weeks in I was feeling so bad I only went to my dorm to sleep, when I was in the room I had an awful cough that went away when I was out of the room, and it physically hurt to breathe. I had spent so much time going to appointments, picking up medications, and dealing with people showing up unannounced to “help” me. This occurred during my first 2 test weeks. And I had very little time to study and was not able to sleep much due to symptoms. This greatly affected my grades. Additionally, I felt unseen, not cared about, like I was going crazy, and that no one believed me no matter what I said or did. I was very anxious about the situation and knowing that my health was consistently getting worse, as well as my grades getting worse and trying to cram to study due to lack of time. In one day I had 4 panic attacks, I think before this I have had 4 in my life. I questioned why I was at TAMU, considered dropping out, and wondered what I had seen in TAMU that so desperately made me want to come. I had dreamed about coming here since I was 4 and I only applied to TAMU because I had decided I wanted to go to TAMU or no college at all. I would keep applying until I got in. And I got in on my first try. I realized why I had wanted to come here. The family like community, their core values, and how Aggies are always for each other. That is what made me want to come here. But through this experience I have found that none of these are true. I found that 5 of the 6 values of TAMU were not shown nor true. Excellence was not shown, what was shown was cut corners and do what you have to save a dollar at whatever cost. Integrity was not shown, I believe the Aggie code was broken on every account towards me. I was lied to, cheated out of good health, grades, and communication, and I had fairness and dignity stolen from me. Leadership was not shown, I who was being led felt no importance, help, or respect. What is the point of leadership if they don’t lead well. Respect was not shown except by my RA (name removed), Mr. (name removed), and Ms. (name removed). They were concerned for me, they showed that I mattered to them, they treated me like a person. Selfless sacrifice was not shown, I was what was sacrificed. My health was sacrificed for the sake of finances. For the sake of making a point. There was nothing selfless about this process and I would argue that it was selfish. I did not feel like I was part of a family or like I was taken care of at all. This defeated the reasons of why I came here. This left an impression on me of TAMU that is not reversible. This lead me to not trust anything an Aggie or TAMU facilitates says or does. This broke my trust and your reputation. And suddenly I was no longer proud to be an Aggie. Because if we can’t even stand by our own core values then what will we fall for, what other issues will be ignored, what will set us apart. Finally, I would like to quote a quote from the reslife website under mold. “The health and comfort of our residents is of the highest priority for Texas A&M University Department of Residence Life.” This was not what was shown to me in any sense, if anything the opposite. I hope that this opens your eyes to this issue and lets you see this situation in a new perspective. I pray that this allows you to evaluate your leadership, process, and provides a pathway to change. You can only learn from mistakes or make them again. If there is anything I can do to help promote or plan this change please let me know. I would love to help see this through. Thank you for your time. -Leah Courington

I would like to add that Ms. (name removed) and Mr. (name removed) were also very kind, treated me with respect, and like an actual person upon meeting them. They were 2 of the 3 people who genuinely apologized to me, Ms. (name removed) being the 3rd. I do not want to make this a huge issue nor make anyone else upset with me. I just want a resolve and to feel better. However, I also want you to be aware of this situation. Again, thank you for your time.

 

 

 

This she wrote 10/26/23.   It terrifies me that her mental health got to such a dark place because it seemed no one would listen and no one cared.  She was left to feel like a crazy person and that this was all in her head.

 

Howdy! I know I am the last person you want to hear from right now and I understand that. It has been made perfectly clear that most (not all but most) of y’all don’t want to listen to anything I or my family have to say. Which is why I am writing this to you. So you can read it on your own timing and then when it is convenient for you. Again, I know you don’t care to listen, but as a fellow Aggie and a someone who is in desperate distress I beg you to read this. I know I have sent a similar letter many weeks ago to some of you and it has been read to others. If you would like a copy of that one as well I would be overjoyed to send it to you. But I am writing this tonight 10/26/2023 at 11:41 pm because I can not sleep. My mind is racing with awful thoughts and fears that unfortunately might be a reality. You see the molds found in my room have been found to be highly linked to liver and kidney failure, various cancers, and nervous system disorders. I recently got my lab results back with the levels being horrifically high.  And all I can think about is if this happens to me how in the world will I be able to tell anyone that? How could I tell my parents that my dreams and all of our collective hard work have killed me? How am I going to be able to tell my sister that I didn’t want to leave when I came to college that I would no longer be there to support her? How would I be able to tell my friends that the school’s negligence has caused my death and I get to escape the pain, but they have to continue living in it? They have to wonder if it is going to happen to them. What would I want read for my silver taps? At the moment I can tell you that I would want “the school killed me”. But my faith in y’all has fleeted and I don’t believe you would read it because it would damage your reputation, ego, and pride. And would my family even come or would they stand against it in protest? How would I live the last few weeks, months, or years knowing that my two biggest dreams, to be a wife and to be a mom, will never come true? How would I be able to handle knowing I’ll never get an Aggie ring or diploma, but traded it for my death? How could I knowingly accept a transplant if I were granted one knowing that someone else was born with a condition and might need it more? What would I want my funeral to look like? What would I want people to say about me after I passed? She was strong, determined, and despite it all was kind? I sure hope so and I think several of your staff would agree. No 19 year old should have to think about these things. No college student should have to prepare themselves for their funeral and saying goodbye. And as much as I would love to be completely healthy, nothing wrong, and back to a normal life, I almost don’t. Because maybe this would be the only way anything is taken seriously and the impact of it is actually considered. And I’d no longer be in pain, which at the moment sounds pretty wonderful. I know this probably sounds dramatic, but this is my reality. And unfortunately you have not gone through this living hell and therefore have no opinion in this matter or how I react. You aren’t the one having to go to doctors and trying to not lose your mind because of not knowing the news you will hear. You aren’t the one crying yourself to sleep because you can’t imagine saying goodbye to your loved ones. You aren’t the one trying to get through classes and have a social life and have good bull and join orgs and keep up with every email, conversation, meeting, and call. You aren’t the one in constant physical pain. Or emotional or mental for that matter. You aren’t the one feeling guilty for putting your family through emotional, mental, and financial stress. So respectfully I say, you have no room to talk. If you have a kid, or a niece or nephew, or a grandchild, or you count your best friend’s kid as your family, or you have ever seen a child that you somewhat like I beg you to step into my family’s shoes for a moment. And if not think about your parents or guardians, think of how hard it would be to put them through this. This isn’t a simple issue of I want my stuff. This is my life we are dealing with. Physically among many other aspects. I have learned to hate learning. It used to be one of my favorite things, I loved school. Now I can’t stand it, and only do it because too many people have done too much for me to not be a good student. I have had friendships ruined from this mess. I have questioned and have/ am reconsidering my major and what I want to do with my life. I have concentratedly considered dropping out. I have questioned who I can trust and what to believe. I hope you all know I don’t write this for pity or to be dramatic of because ANYONE told me to or for any other reason besides I want you to again see my reality. What I am going through and having to deal with because of this issue that was left unresolved. Because I was not taken seriously or with any value. (And again, a few have, but the majority have not) I beg you to do something about this. Change this so no one else has to wonder about and feel these things. Make a difference. Isn’t that the point

of your job? If you aren’t there to help, support, and make a difference in student’s lives then what are you doing? Use this as a “que to action” as my health professor and many health professionals say. It’s something that sparks change. Self sacrifice- this is a great opportunity to show it. How willing are you to stand by YOUR core values and prove that they are in fact important? If I am being fully honest, when everything first happened I was really mad. Like really really really mad. And I still have days that I feel this way. But now I pity y’all who don’t do this. I know in my heart that I stand by my values and what I say. I know that I am making a difference and won’t stop until this happens, even if that’s on my death bed. I know that I am handling this situation with grace and patience. Much more than a normal student would. So I pity y’all for not doing these things. And if you would like a detailed explanation of how you are not I would like you to reference my previous note. And I have more information I can add that has happened since then if you would like. I’d like to remind you all that my previous letter was written the night before I was moved out and the room was inspected. So there has been quite a lot of development. I know my words are probably meaningless and won’t be read by many of you, but again I beg you to consider them if you have made it this far. And I would like to encourage you to ask others to read it as well. And if any of you have a heart (maybe I have just not been given the chance to see it yet) I pray that you are able to take my words to heart and act upon them. Thank you for your time. -Leah

 

Mold Inspection Findings

 A few weeks after hiring Texas Mold Inspectors to do an inspection on my daughter's dorm room, we received a detailed report with the findings.  There were many other pages of chain of custody and such, but I'm just going to post results.  I am happy to share the full report if anyone is interested.

Mycotoxin Levels - Mycotoxins are the toxins created by mold.  This is what gets inside your system and wreaks havoc on it.  I learned that not only can you inhale and ingest mycotoxins, the greatest source of exposure is your skin.  It makes sense that Leah's was fiery red all the time.  I encourage you to read through the detailed info about them.  Several of these mycotoxins are rated Group 1 carcinogens, meaning there is sufficient evidence they cause cancer (ie. tobacco, asbestos).  Many of the mycotoxins present in Leah's room cause infertility.  Many cause organ and neurologic damage.  Some even change your DNA and the grey matter of your brain.  I had NO idea that mold was this dangerous. I had no idea that it can wreck your body and mind for years or even decades after exposure.  This is not just a matter of a dirty, old building.  This is a matter of our students' futures.  How many past students have suffered from ailments because of this?  How many current students will in the future?  I also learned that while we were LUCKY that Leah had such a strong reaction to the mold, you can have no reaction and still suffer the same effects.  I am so thankful her body spoke up and made it where she couldn't ignore it.  I am so glad that she didn't just live off of antihistamines to silence it.  It makes my heart heavy for the students that do, having no idea that they're being poisoned.

 Leah's room tested positive on 6 out of 11 of the mycotoxins they tested for

Spore Trap Results - This data is collected by a special tool that collects mold spores in the air or select areas to see how concentrated it is.  "Toxic black mold" (Stachybotrys) is one of the ones found here and its' mycotoxin in the last report. 

Obviously these results show much differently than the campus mold inspector's report.  It says at the bottom of this report that essentially the particles were so dense and so thick that this is a low estimate because they can't count down into multiple layers. 

Texas Mold Inspectors Report - Here is the report from the third party mold inspector.  Note the percentages of levels versus outside, naturally occurring levels.  Unbelievable!

Why the vast difference in EHS reports versus third party?  I am not sure.  My immediate guesses are either 1) lack of education or 2) desire to find the issue.  It's easy to assume that TAMU is turning a blind eye to a massive issue.  Maybe they're pressured not to find it.  Maybe it is a campus wide issue and if they admit it here, they can't ignore it for the rest of the buildings.  I've tried to get those answers directly from TAMU unsuccessfully.

Leah's Labs and Treatment

As if it was not incredibly obvious that there was mold in the room, we decided to have Leah's mycotoxin levels checked.  This test is a urinalysis that tests the level of mycotoxins currently filtering through your kidneys.  Remember she lived in this room for FIVE weeks....that's it.  Below are her results in October.

The results show the type of mycotoxin tested for.  The value column shows what was measured as currently present in Leah's urine.  

The results shows the following options Present (meaning found in the sample), Equivocal (meaning uncertain levels in sample), and Not Present (meaning not found in the sample).  

Leah's Ochratoxin A level was 9.318 ppb (parts per billion).  Present is anything greater than or equal to 2 ppb.  Hers was almost FIVE times that.

Leah's Aflatoxin Group (B1, B2, G1, and G2) were 0.999 ppb.  Present is anything greater than or equal to 1 ppb.  Equivocal for this test is anything between 0.8 and 1 ppb.  This is the only group that didn't fall in the present category.  Clearly there was still some in her system, but it was a small amount.

Leah's Trichothecene Group measured 0.363 ppb present.  Present is anything higher than or equal to 0.09 ppb.  This is FOUR times that level.

Leah's Gilotoxin level was 7.467 ppb present.  Present is anything higher than 1.0 ppb.  This is SEVEN times that level.

Leah's Zeralenone level was 0.969 ppb present.  Present is anything higher than or equal to 0 .7 ppb.  So this was SLIGHTLY higher than present, but shows a definite exposure

Here is some more info on the impact of exposure to each of these mycotoxin group.

The local doctor we saw in Houston ran a bunch of bloodwork.  She recommended starting on a handful of supplements to start ridding the toxins from her body.  She had Leah go on a very strict diet, as her GI system was shot.  Mold can cause leaky gut syndrome and causes the gut bacteria biome to get all out of whack.  

Leah seemed to be improving being out of the disgusting living conditions and with the supplements purging her system.  She called me during the middle of the night one night during finals week.  She was nauseous and in tremendous pain in her belly.  I thought it might be a tummy bug and encouraged her to take some medicine.  I offered to come up, but she didn't want me to have to do that.  She said she felt like it was her kidneys, but she wasn't having any normal kidney issues symptoms.  She curled up with a heating pad and eventually was able to fall back asleep with me on speaker phone.  Eventually she said she thought she was okay and we both went back to sleep.  A few hours later, my phone rang again and she said she was trying to find a friend to take her to the ER and would call an ambulance if she couldn't find one.  It was a Sunday morning and most of her friends were at church and had their phones silenced.  Eventually she found one who had just left.  She circled back around and picked Leah up.  She offered to stay at he ER with Leah, but Leah really didn't want her to be exposed to anything with it being finals week and all.  Another friend saw Leah's voicemail and came to sit with her.  She refused to leave until I arrived.  Thank God for her sweet friends.  She is so blessed!  

The ER gave her pain meds and ran a urinalysis and blood work.  They said they didn't really find anything and thought it may be cramps.  Enter eye roll here.  She knows what cramps feel like and was insistent that it was not that.  In their defense, we didn't have insurance due to job loss at the time and they were trying to keep it minimal.  Leah again mentioned her kidneys.  The doctor overseeing the ER said he wasn't comfortable sending her home without a better answer.  He ordered a CT scan which indeed showed that Leah had been passing kidney stones all night.  No wonder she was miserable.  Obviously this girl really knows her body.  We got some medicine to help with the pain and inflammation and got some groceries that would be easy on her.  It was scary how quickly it came on out of nowhere.  Some checking with her doctor told us that it was likely the mycotoxins which are filtered out of your system by your kidneys.  Since her body was trying to clear out so many, it likely caused a backup in her kidneys.  It was a reminder that while things had improved so much her body was still not normal yet.  Leah finished up her finals and headed home a few days later.

Over break, Leah completed a very strict diet and some medication during treatment for the GI issues. She continued on the supplements.  They seemed to help some.  She was able to rest and recover over winter break and made the decision to go back for the spring semester.  I was shocked she would want to, but she said, "They've taken enough from me, they're not taking my dreams, too."    We hustled to find a place off campus for her to live, days before the semester started.  We were done with Res Life and campus life and had no desire to ever return to that again.  We found a nice apartment which was helpful so she could cook for herself and try to keep rebuilding her gut health.

Shortly after we connected with a doctor in Richardson, TX, about 3 hours away, who is well versed in toxic exposure and started seeing him after break.  While the local doctor got us started on the right track, it was difficult to get in to them and communication was difficult.  She was also incredibly negative, albeit realistic, from the start.  She told Leah she needed to drop out immediately and plan not to return to school for a couple of years.  While this probably had some truth to it, Leah was devastated to hear this.

The challenge with the new doctor was Leah lived an hour and a half from home and the doctor was three and a half hours from home.  Since they are only open during the week and Leah had classes, it was less than ideal, but we made it work.  Again, her professors was so kind and supportive.  We found a place to meet and ride together and made the trip up and back in one day.  This doctor was so knowledgable and encouraging from the get go.  He ordered mold sensitivity allergy testing.   He suggested staying on the supplements and rechecking her mycotoxin levels.  We grabbed lunch and came back for tests.  The allergy testing was miserable.  They would inject her over and over with different small dilutions of molds increasing until she reacted and then decreasing until she stopped.  It was super un-fun.  It showed she had a very mild reaction to mold from an allergy point.  It shows even more how bad her room was that her body reacted so strongly living with mold.  I truly expected her to have bad allergies to it based off how sick she had been.  This testing definitely caused some symptoms and she wound up needing antihistamines for the rest of the week.  

Here are her results from that mycotoxin collection.  You can see that this time only one level showed Present, two showed Equivocal, and two showed Not Present.  There was definite and drastic improvement from October's levels.  All five still showed showed something, but the numbers dropped significantly.  Getting her out of that room made a huge difference!

At the follow up the doctor explained that this was a great improvement, but that we weren't done yet.  Mycotoxin infiltrate tissue throughout your body.  They also weren't gone completely yet.  He recommended coming back up for a week of testing and treatment.

Because of Leah's school schedule we had to wait until spring break to make it happen.  We were ALL incredibly tired of giving up every free minute and break for these things, but that's what families do, support each other.  We packed up and headed to Richardson for the week.  Leah had ten sessions of hyperbaric treatment, each an hour long.  She would go early in the morning, have to wait two hours, and then return for another hour session.  Hyperbaric chamber treatment is where they put you in a glass tube and pump it full of 100% oxygen.  This pushes a lot of toxins out of your body and helps heal damage to your body simultaneously.

The treatments feel a bit like scuba diving, earning them the name "dives".  There is a lot of pressure and that can cause issues.  For Leah, she had horrible ear pain and fluid in her ears.  She took a lot of Sudafed and used some ear pressure plugs but really struggled all week with this.  That mixed with super early mornings and giving up yet another break for mold treatment made for a miserable week for Leah.  In between treatments she had testing to see what damage had been done to her brain and vitals.  She had two QEEGs and a CNS Vitals test that week.  It showed some strange results and the affect mold had on her brain function.  It's not that I didn't believe that mold could cause these things, but it seemed hard to conceive that it could effect SO much in such a drastic way.  The kidney stones and this test made that reality clear.  Despite feeling terrible from the pressure all week, Leah did feel like they made a difference.  She felt like she had a bit of a symptom flair shortly after that, but it didn't seem to last very long.  We had a weekend home and then she headed back for the semester.  

She ended the week with another mycotoxin level test.  This time we had TWO zeros and ALL FIVE Not Present.  Woo hoo!  Clearly the hyperbaric helped push almost all of the rest of those nasty mycotoxin levels out.  We both felt like maybe we will get to put this all behind us some day.

This graph just shows all her levels over multiple tests.

Spring semester went well overall.  There were lots of big emotions about the school and processing what all had happened.  Leah's physical health seemed to be doing really well other than that flare.  She was able to remember things from classes, had more energy and appetite than fall, and felt like she was getting back to normal overall.  She finished the semester strong with all As.  

Leah has spent the summer at home.  It's been good to have her here.  She's worked hard working a job and knocking out a summer class.  We continue to see the doctor regularly. 

We checked her mycotoxins again in July.  

Her levels were up a little this time.  We were both pretty disappointed to see this.  The doctor was quick to remind us that mycotoxins are in her tissues and organs.  They leak out over time.  So the great results we saw in March showed there weren't many more being drawn out in her system.  This result shows that her body is, indeed, still working to purge it all out. 

We are working on a new plan for continuing to get things out.  I have no idea how long this mess will go on.  I am not sure if we will keep doing supplements or if we will do hyperbaric chamber again.

Along with the unknowns are the unknowns of the future.  What longterm damage has this all caused?  Will the horrific issues that come with exposures to these mycotoxins happen to her?  It's terrifying.  Mold doesn't just steal your health...and your belongings...and your school breaks....it can very much so steal your future.  All that we can do is work on getting her as healthy as we can as quickly as we can today.  I wish schools and landlords understood what they are doing.  As you can imagine, this has all had a huge impact on our family, physically, emotionally, and financially.