Shannon

City: 
Oxnard
Residence Type: 
20 or more units

I live in a brand new apartment complex. Two people in my apartment complex were disabled and have died. One tenant had stomach issues and the other had kidney issues and having dialysis every other day. I am also disabled and have congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy. Now I have kidney and liver failure to add to the list.
We moved in June 2013 and by September 2013 I had to pull my daughter out of school and put her on independent study due to her absences with stomach problems and the doctor visits. From August to January we had gone to the doctor 12 times. Last visit received results from the sonogram and ultrasound and she has a tumor on her left ovary or in that area. We have yet to go back again for more test because the will not stop and she continues to have some kind of infection.
We have all been feeling lost and confused, feeling of being stuck, memory loss, delirium, headaches, I was getting bloody noses, Nathan (grandson) woke up in the middle of night saying his nose was burning and too many other symptoms to list. Out of a possible 72 symptoms, I have 65 of them and the kids have more than half of them. I look into some ailments one of us are having and keep coming back to mold and water contamination. When we leave the house for a while, we seem to feel better. All of these things have been happening not long after we moved in.
A couple of months ago I was hospitalized for 9 days with Pneumonia and Septic Shock with a blood pressure of 60/20. The doctors could not find the reason or source for the problem and my spleen, liver, and kidneys were shutting down with elevated enzymes.
After I got out of hospital I started thinking about the water too and how it is yellow and smells sulfur and sent my tap water off to be tested. Came back 100 parts per million above legal limits for TDS's and detected Sulfides in the water. We don't drink the water but we do cook with it, brush our teeth, take showers and wash our clothes in it.
I then recently reported this to management last week because of the smell from the drains and the dirt like smell around the house and my closet. They responded with my being in violation of my lease for not reporting it and then the drains and water stopped smelling bad but like bleach or chlorine instead. The contractor came out five days later to inspect and found mold in my closet and washroom common wall. Contractor said it was a water leak and would get back to me with their game plan. The maintenance guy came and cleaned the walls with bleach. For the next several days I started having burning eyes, burning lungs, headaches, skin burned, and especially in the shower, pain in gut and lower back in kidney area. I tried to wash the clothes that were in the closet and the smell was too overwhelming even with a mask on and I had to stop. I have to throw out all my clothing from my closet as the smell is so strong in the clothing and with the water here washing it will do no good. My symptoms came on again when I started to wash the clothes so I stopped. I started crying and contacted management and a couple hours later I had a note posted on my door that poor housekeeping may result in termination of tenancy.
The management company is doing everything they can to put me in violation of the terms of the lease for various reasons and trying to make this problem my fault. Currently I am in process of the annual re-examination and technically the lease has expired.
They have come and cut out some sheetrock on the common wall of my closet and wash room. They maintenance man said the hose was too short and would be ordering a new one. I didn’t hear anything for a week so I asked when they would be hooking it back up and they told me that the washer is not going to be hooked back up because it is broke and it is my fault. I have to pay for a new washer and the washer is still under warranty however they had a used appliance store send a refurbished washer. They tried forcing the unit to be installed one day I wasn’t home but my 15 yr old daughter was there and said no.
I have had to stay with a friend because of the effects it has on me when I am home. I had been sleeping on the couch but fell asleep in my room one night. Next morning I was making my son lunch and my nose started pouring blood.
I have everything documented and have been tracking the symptoms on a spreadsheet.

Much more has transpired but this is the basics. I have contacted the EPS and they suggested I seek and attorney and go to the media.

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