| Delray Beach, Fla. - A
family forced out of their Pennsylvania home is making do in Delray
Beach while they fight to make sure their nightmare doesn't happen
to any one else.
The family told Eyewitness News 25
that the worst part of what they went through wasn't the sickness or
losing their house; it was that some doctors, their insurance
company and their neighbors thought they were crazy.
Chris Clinton, Cynthia Luciana,
and their children, Noah and Dylan, are camped out in the tiny
Delray Beach apartment of relatives after toxic mould forced then out
their home. The family learned about the gooey black mold behind
their walls after Hurricane Allison poured water though a leak into
their basement last year.
"Two day later, Cynthia woke up
hyperventilating couldn't breath at all. We had no idea what was
happening." Chris Clinton said.
The whole family had problems that
doctors couldn't solve until a specialist finally diagnosed their
symptoms as related to toxic mold. Doctors told the family to move
out while the house was cleaned up.
The family nearly went bankrupt
paying for the cleanup, which cost more than $100,000. And the family
said their insurance company, National wide insurance, refused to
pay. "It was hell. It really was a nightmare. It went from a
wonderful thing to a nightmare overnight." victim Cynthia Luciana
said.
Clinton, tortured by the idea that
his children might have lasting injuries from that toxic mould, set
out to change the law. He got Pennsylvania lawmakers to sponsor a
toxic mold bill that would require health departments to set mold
limits and insurance companies to recognize them.
He wants to do the same thing in
Florida.
"I say I'm on a mold crusade,
because I will fight until something is done,' he said. Clinton
flies to Detroit June 3 to testify as Rep. John Conyers introduces
his federal toxic mold protection bill. Clinton hopes the bill will pave the way to help
future victims of toxic mold.
Meanwhile, the family is suing
their insurance company.
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