MOLD WARRIORS PREFACE continued
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“Perhaps you would rather go to Hampton Bays, New York, to meet Pat Romanosky and her fellow teachers at the elementary school with 1000 students. I think you would get an earful from Pat or mothers of children injured by exposure to molds in the s chool. Be prepared to hear about the absurd barriers against the truth about mold illness erected by the administrators of the school. Some teachers, however, might not want to come forward out of fear. The Hampton Bays case is an incredible example of just how vicious the battles over mold can be. It is also an example showing the arrogance of power that can be brought against those physicians and teachers who say mold is a health problem.

“Consider listening to Melissa MacDonald, former counsel on intellectual property to the House Judiciary Committee who lost he r job this year because of illness caused by fungi growing in this very Rayburn Building. If the anthrax and ricin attacks were scary enough to grab the attention of you and the media, consider that biotoxic mold in the HVAC, maybe even here, also maims innocent bystanders.

“Maybe someone you love has an illness with multiple symptoms that affects so many body systems. Perhaps your loved ones have been given one of those meaningless medical labels. Now that you know that mold illness is real, do you wonder if mold m ight have a role in their illness? Maybe you know someone who works in a moldy building but who is tired all the time, can’t concentrate and for whom work is a painful task that leaves them exhausted by lunchtime.

“And if you have a child in a flat-roofed school with water leaks and moldy books in the library, you already know that there are sick teachers and students in that school.

“If these anecdotes still don’t create a desire for action, come with me to meet Carol Anderson. She has been so terribly sickened by her condominium at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, located just a few blocks away. I’m sure she would not mind if you watched her become ill again after re-exposure to her condominium. She can’t afford any more health hits from mold. Her illness has already taken her vitality and creativity. And no, if she is exposed again, waiting for her illness to appear won’t take much of your time. The illness will come on so quickly in her now it will stun you. Why? She is primed for mold illness; we can show diagnostic changes in routinely performed lab tests in just a few hours after she is re-exposed for a few minutes.

“Carol will probably would tell you she is so sick now, without much hope of improvement, that little difference would be made in her 100% disability by the addition of a few more mold toxins even though she would be even less able to care for herself.

“When you finally fund the research on the value of replacement of alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) we need so desperately, perhaps then there will be hope for Carol and those others chronically injured from exposure to indoor toxi- genic molds.

“H onor the sacrifice made by those who proved that mold makes people sick by talking with Martha Knight of the Baltimore Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church in C olumbia, Maryland. She’ll tell you first hand all about the mold illness of her fellow workers in one office building. They were treated, only to fall victim to the toxin-bearing spores retained in the documents they took into their second office building.

“You already know the common denominators that dominate these real cases: money and health. Look at the costs in dollars and ruined lives that result from mold. Environmental illnesses, like the Pfiesteria cases, force a conflict between those made ill by a disturbed environment and those responsible for disturbing the balance of Nature. Who is responsible for mold illness?

“M old illness won’t go away just because corporate groups deny its existence.

“How about seeing proof with your own eyes? Invite me to your district. We’ll make it a point to visit buildings where there are insufficient dollars spent for maintenance on public schools, county offices, hospitals and courthouses. Let me show you how easy it is to screen patients. Remember, the IOM told us in May 2004 that there is a dearth of evidence of illness caused by exposure to mold. Nonsense! Give me the time of you and your staff for a week and I will show you how to identify hundreds of cases o f mold illness that are currently overlooked. And better yet, let me screen you and your loved ones. I’ll do the testing off the record if you prefer.

“You will see what I see everyday in my mold illness medical p ractice, if you only open your eyes. As we say in Pocomoke, Maryland, ‘The illness is as obvious as a steamroller running over your foot.’

“Thank you for your attention. I hope I will have a chance to meet with you individually to answer your specific questions. If th ere are questions now, however, I would be happy to take them.”

In Mold Warriors, you will find true stories of courageous individuals who would not give in to lack of knowledge from their d octors or economic pressures from employers or insurance com- panies.

In Chapter Four, you will find the complex physiology of mold il lnesses, translated from “Shoemakerese.” While this chapter has lots of technical terms, learning the language of mold illness is the first step to understanding why mold illness is so predictably diverse. Armed with this new knowledge of mold illness, you can help your doctor become fluent in mold physiology as well.

In the end, the Mold Wars will be over when primary care physicians open their eyes to new insights about illnesses they have not recognized before. Every time a patient with an unsupported diagnosis of chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, stress or chronic pain syndrome is returned to a normal life by the proper diagnosis and treatment of mold illness, a previously unseeing, but truly caring primary care physician will add his or her voice to those who are demanding societal change regarding mold.

We can no longer allow school administrators to ignore the health and learning threats posed by flat-roofed schools in need of maintenance. We can’t permit employers to deny work benefits f or occupational illness caused by moldy, water-damaged w ork-sites. We must demand that construction techniques be u pgraded to prevent water entry and trapped condensation and that the deliberate denial of responsibility for construction errors stop now.

Mold illness is so common, yet under diagnosed. It is so treatable, yet therapy is not provided. It is so easily recognized that the failure of our esteemed medical organizations to act to protect the rights and health of so many of us, is a national disgrace.

When it comes to the truth about mold illness, there is no barrier too great for Mold Warriors to overcome. Mold Warriors never give up when they are right. And we are right.

Welcome to the world of Mold Warriors. Welcome to 21st Century Medicine.