00:00:04
[Music]
00:00:08
this young couple had everything
00:00:10
successful careers money time to enjoy
00:00:14
it and a home fit for a movie star
00:00:17
then
00:00:19
everything changed
00:00:21
their three-year-old son developed
00:00:23
serious respiratory problems
00:00:25
and his father started showing signs of
00:00:28
alzheimer's disease
00:00:30
forensic scientists needed to know
00:00:32
whether these illnesses were bad luck
00:00:35
bad genes
00:00:37
or something else
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[Music]
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dripping springs texas a town where you
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can enjoy the beauty of the texas hill
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country
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yet commute to downtown austin in just
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over half an hour
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[Music]
00:01:23
melinda ballard fell in love with
00:01:25
dripping springs and bought this
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georgian style mansion on 72 acres of
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land
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in 1994 she met ron allison
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after dating for less than a year the
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couple married
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it was everything i had ever wanted in a
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man
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very intelligent
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a real go-getter
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a workaholic which is what i am so we
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seem to match up pretty well
00:01:52
in that regard um just a super guy
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we both had the same
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interest we both wanted to
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have a family i think that was the the
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key
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career-wise with
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similar interests
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melinda had been head of her own public
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relations business a firm she sold in
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1989 but she still continued her career
00:02:20
i said as a board member of the bank and
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still represent a number of clients that
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are
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i guess holdovers from my company in in
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new york
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ron worked in investment banking and was
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head of corporate finance at his firm
00:02:40
in 1996 melinda gave birth to their son
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rhys
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ron loved being a father and a weekend
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baseball coach
00:02:50
then in february 1999
00:02:53
three-year-old reese developed what
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seemed like a flu
00:02:57
he started having some respiratory
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problems
00:03:01
and
00:03:02
he
00:03:02
would have a real hard time catching his
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breath
00:03:06
and and we thought god maybe he's
00:03:09
exercising too much or something
00:03:12
the symptoms lingered
00:03:15
one month later reece seemed to be
00:03:17
getting worse not better
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initially we thought
00:03:22
maybe it's because rhys is in preschool
00:03:24
in nursery school and you know how kids
00:03:28
just they constantly get
00:03:30
contaminate one another with a little
00:03:32
bug or virus
00:03:34
doctors could find nothing wrong
00:03:37
tests were inconclusive
00:03:40
when he was taken for allergy tests
00:03:42
those two were negative
00:03:45
soon reese's problems move from
00:03:48
respiratory to neurological
00:03:52
reese who had learned his abcs from a to
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z
00:03:56
suddenly couldn't get past d
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he was
00:04:00
deteriorating quickly and we were taking
00:04:03
him to doctor after doctor after doctor
00:04:06
and they told us that something was
00:04:08
wrong but they didn't know what it was
00:04:12
when doctors came up empty a team of
00:04:14
forensic scientists and epidemiologists
00:04:18
had better luck
00:04:22
[Music]
00:04:23
melinda ballard was living a dream life
00:04:28
she and her husband had a beautiful home
00:04:30
a healthy adorable son and successful
00:04:33
careers
00:04:34
until their three-year-old son developed
00:04:37
a serious illness
00:04:39
i didn't know if he had some kind of
00:04:41
rare disease that nobody had ever heard
00:04:43
of i didn't know what to think but i
00:04:45
knew it was getting worse
00:04:47
and that we were
00:04:49
not able at the time to
00:04:52
get a handle on the situation
00:04:54
reese was still asthmatic very asthmatic
00:04:57
in fact he the
00:04:59
pulmonologist said he had scarred lung
00:05:01
tissue
00:05:02
but still
00:05:03
the cause couldn't be found
00:05:06
it appeared to ron's co-workers that the
00:05:09
stress associated with his son's illness
00:05:11
was starting to get to him
00:05:17
i was sitting at his desk
00:05:20
and ron was looking at his computer
00:05:22
screen which was unusual but when i
00:05:25
walked closer to his desk
00:05:27
i realized that he was staring at a
00:05:29
blank screen
00:05:35
and ron exhibited other symptoms
00:05:39
he came out of the grocery store
00:05:42
and could not remember where he had
00:05:44
parked his car
00:05:46
or what car he even drove
00:05:50
it took him about five hours to come
00:05:52
back from the grocery store when he it
00:05:55
should have taken him 20 minutes
00:05:57
and when he gets home
00:05:59
everything's melted and he said i don't
00:06:01
know i i'm having a i had a blackout or
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something
00:06:05
i didn't know what was going on and
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the wheels were coming off and it was
00:06:11
it was
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i was i was scared
00:06:16
ron went to a neurologist for testing
00:06:19
the results showed a dramatic decrease
00:06:22
in his cognitive abilities
00:06:25
my doctor sat me down and told me that i
00:06:28
was about halfway through the
00:06:30
progression of alzheimer's
00:06:33
and that's based on my my neurological
00:06:36
uh test results but that's all he could
00:06:39
tell me is is that you're you're you're
00:06:42
you're functioning on this level
00:06:44
and it's uh seems to be getting worse
00:06:47
but they didn't know
00:06:49
exactly why or what to do about it
00:06:53
on april 1 1999
00:06:55
melinda boarded a southwest airlines
00:06:58
flight heading to little rock arkansas
00:07:02
it was a flight that forever changed the
00:07:05
course of her life
00:07:08
a man named bill holder
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was assigned to the seat next to melinda
00:07:15
on the way to dallas which was our first
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job i heard her talking to some people
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there sitting there
00:07:22
by me and she was complaining about all
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these
00:07:26
illnesses and problems that she and her
00:07:28
family were having
00:07:31
and without warning
00:07:33
melinda fell ill
00:07:36
and i kept coughing up blood
00:07:39
and
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bill holder said to me lady
00:07:42
what in the world's wrong with you
00:07:44
and i said i really don't know
00:07:47
i just asked her i said do you have a
00:07:49
water leak at your house
00:07:51
and she said yes i do i have several
00:07:53
water leaks
00:07:55
she told holder that a month earlier
00:07:57
there was a leak in her home causing the
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downstairs floors to buckle
00:08:03
a plumber repaired the leak which was in
00:08:05
the water line leading to the
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refrigerator's ice maker
00:08:09
holder began to suspect that it was a
00:08:12
mold causing the family's illness
00:08:18
holder owns the assured indoor air
00:08:20
quality business that removes toxic mold
00:08:23
from buildings
00:08:26
[Music]
00:08:27
but melinda dismissed this possibility
00:08:30
she kept her home spotless and no one in
00:08:33
her family tested positive for allergies
00:08:36
the allergist did these little pinprick
00:08:38
tests to determine whether or not
00:08:42
we were allergic to mold
00:08:44
and it came back that we weren't
00:08:46
so i
00:08:47
dismissed it as as
00:08:49
our problem
00:08:52
but during their conversation on the
00:08:54
plane
00:08:55
holder said something prophetic
00:08:58
he's telling me these aren't allergens
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lady
00:09:01
this is a poison
00:09:04
now suspecting that there was some kind
00:09:06
of mold behind a wall or above the
00:09:09
ceiling somewhere
00:09:11
ron and melinda decided not to take any
00:09:13
chances and moved out of the main house
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into an apartment over the garage
00:09:19
but even with the move
00:09:21
ron's neurological problems continued to
00:09:23
get worse
00:09:25
at the office i would be on a a phone
00:09:28
call and
00:09:30
10 or 20 minutes into the phone call
00:09:33
just not have any idea what we discussed
00:09:37
if there was some kind of mold behind a
00:09:40
wall or ceiling
00:09:42
how would investigators find it
00:09:47
[Music]
00:09:49
medical experts began to suspect that
00:09:52
something in their home environment was
00:09:54
making ron melinda and rhee sick
00:09:58
the property included 72 acres
00:10:01
there was a man-made pond that melinda
00:10:04
stocked with swans and catfish
00:10:08
a barn for horses
00:10:10
a backyard gazebo and pool
00:10:14
the house itself was enormous 12 000
00:10:16
square feet modeled after the movie
00:10:19
version of para scarlet o'hara's
00:10:21
plantation home in gone with the wind
00:10:25
it was
00:10:26
lots of columns a georgian style home
00:10:29
antebellum
00:10:31
and
00:10:32
it was just gorgeous
00:10:34
scientific experts began to focus on the
00:10:37
possibility that it was mold
00:10:41
for mold to grow
00:10:42
it requires water to be where it
00:10:44
shouldn't be it requires cellulose which
00:10:46
is a component of most building
00:10:48
materials for example sheet rock
00:10:50
ceiling tile pressed particle board and
00:10:53
then a mold also needs the appropriate
00:10:55
temperature and it needs oxygen
00:10:58
melinda asked bill holder to inspect
00:11:01
their home to see if he could find
00:11:03
anything suspicious
00:11:06
he started behind the refrigerator
00:11:09
the location of the original water leak
00:11:12
and under the first floor floorboards
00:11:16
take clear cellophane tape
00:11:18
push it on the suspect area
00:11:20
and then attach it to a glass slide
00:11:26
at the same time take a sterile cotton
00:11:28
swab
00:11:30
and lift some of the material off of
00:11:32
that
00:11:33
surface
00:11:35
with a sterile cotton swab put it in a
00:11:38
sterile container send it to the
00:11:39
laboratory
00:11:42
dr david strauss is a professor of
00:11:44
microbiology and immunology at texas
00:11:47
tech university
00:11:49
i spent about a half an hour in the
00:11:50
house and i was talking with bill mr
00:11:53
holder and i said to him turn to him and
00:11:55
i said bill i don't feel very good i
00:11:57
said i got to get out of here and uh
00:11:59
really just literally walked out the
00:12:01
front door and pretty much collapsed i
00:12:04
lost any any ability to stand without
00:12:06
without aid
00:12:09
the samples were processed at texas tech
00:12:12
health sciences center
00:12:14
technicians there sterilized the slides
00:12:17
then examined them under a high powered
00:12:19
microscope
00:12:21
the cotton swab samples were transferred
00:12:24
to petri dishes
00:12:26
then put in an incubator for five to
00:12:28
seven days
00:12:30
if there were spores present they would
00:12:33
grow mold which could be examined under
00:12:36
the microscope
00:12:38
most household molds are harmless
00:12:42
but dr strauss found one type of mold in
00:12:45
the home that was not harmless
00:12:48
it was a toxic deadly mold known
00:12:51
as stacky botrus
00:12:54
[Music]
00:12:56
experts believe stachybotrys spores
00:12:58
exist on many building materials
00:13:02
as long as those materials stay dry the
00:13:05
spores don't present a problem
00:13:07
but when the spores get wet from a leaky
00:13:10
roof for example
00:13:12
or in a dark moist environment and are
00:13:15
near a paper product like drywall and
00:13:17
insulation the spores multiply quickly
00:13:21
and they produce a potentially deadly
00:13:24
poison called
00:13:25
mycotoxins
00:13:27
mycotoxins are on the surface of these
00:13:30
spores so when you inhale these fungal
00:13:33
spores you're also taking the mycotoxins
00:13:35
into your lungs as well
00:13:38
later
00:13:39
bill holder went back to conduct an
00:13:41
airborne test
00:13:44
canisters placed throughout the house
00:13:46
capture any airborne spores which might
00:13:49
be present
00:13:51
a short time later
00:13:53
melinda was notified of the results
00:13:59
they informed us that it was literally
00:14:01
everywhere
00:14:03
and including in the apartment where we
00:14:05
were living
00:14:07
and for us to it'd be a good idea to
00:14:10
leave
00:14:12
to avoid the possibility of
00:14:13
cross-contamination
00:14:15
the family was told to leave the grounds
00:14:17
immediately and to take nothing with
00:14:19
them
00:14:20
at that point we
00:14:22
got the heck out of dodge
00:14:25
we left with literally nothing from that
00:14:27
home because of cross contamination we
00:14:29
didn't want to bring a problem with us
00:14:33
buildings never get better by themselves
00:14:36
in fact if you leave a building alone
00:14:38
that has mold infestation it gets worse
00:14:41
melinda and ron hope the family's health
00:14:44
problems would clear up once they left
00:14:46
the house
00:14:49
but they didn't
00:14:51
ron is a
00:14:54
bright bright
00:14:56
guy but he's become almost
00:15:00
um
00:15:01
it
00:15:02
it's very sad he carries a
00:15:05
carries a little notebook in his pocket
00:15:08
got his phone number car license number
00:15:11
things of this nature and he's not a
00:15:12
buffoon by any stretch you know but
00:15:17
i know
00:15:18
he's seriously affected
00:15:21
by this
00:15:22
ron is just really loves his son and on
00:15:26
several occasions i would hear him
00:15:28
talking about his son and he would say
00:15:29
my son
00:15:31
and stop because he didn't remember his
00:15:33
son's name
00:15:38
ron's memory problems forced him to
00:15:40
resign from his firm
00:15:43
reese continued to suffer from asthma
00:15:45
and learning disabilities
00:15:49
only melinda came through without
00:15:51
permanent health problems doctors have
00:15:54
no idea why
00:15:56
toxic mold reproduces by shedding
00:16:00
microscopic spores
00:16:02
it can't be cleaned from surfaces
00:16:04
because to do so would release thousands
00:16:07
of spores into the air
00:16:09
instead each piece of contaminated
00:16:12
building material has to be dismantled
00:16:15
sealed in air-tight plastic and carted
00:16:18
away
00:16:21
the question now was
00:16:23
could the house be saved
00:16:31
melinda and ron
00:16:33
moved out of their dream home following
00:16:35
the scientific diagnosis that it was
00:16:38
infested with a potentially deadly mold
00:16:41
growing behind the walls and ceilings
00:16:44
the couple says that the first time they
00:16:46
noticed any water damage was the leak
00:16:49
behind the refrigerator which the
00:16:50
plumber had fixed
00:16:53
the leak had caused extensive damage to
00:16:56
the flooring throughout the area
00:16:58
the couple says they wanted to repair
00:17:00
the water damage right away
00:17:03
but their insurance company said no
00:17:06
we had asked the insurance company in
00:17:09
writing
00:17:10
to allow us to begin repairs immediately
00:17:13
and at least rip out
00:17:15
some of the wet flooring
00:17:18
and the insurance company said that if i
00:17:20
had made repairs during their
00:17:22
investigation
00:17:23
that i would lose coverage
00:17:26
scientific experts say that most
00:17:28
household molds are harmless
00:17:31
but with stachybotrys the mold must be
00:17:34
removed immediately since it's capable
00:17:37
of spreading
00:17:39
the cost to eliminate all of the
00:17:41
stachybotrys in ron and melinda's home
00:17:43
was originally estimated to be one
00:17:46
million dollars
00:17:48
the insurance company offered less than
00:17:51
two hundred thousand dollars
00:17:54
while the two sides tried to reach a
00:17:56
settlement construction experts found 13
00:18:00
additional plumbing leaks and one roof
00:18:03
leak in the home causing even more
00:18:06
stachybotrys contamination
00:18:09
they kept wanting to investigate
00:18:12
claims which
00:18:13
is their right and their duty to do
00:18:16
but the problem is
00:18:18
they would never allow us
00:18:20
to begin making repairs
00:18:22
the investigations and disputes over
00:18:25
cost dragged on for two years
00:18:28
by then
00:18:29
experts concluded that the house and
00:18:32
everything in it was so contaminated
00:18:36
it was beyond repair
00:18:39
to enter the house now melinda has to
00:18:42
don a special suit and respirator to
00:18:44
protect herself against the poisonous
00:18:47
mold
00:18:48
experts recommended that the home be
00:18:51
demolished
00:18:54
melinda and ron filed suit against their
00:18:56
insurance company for the financial loss
00:18:59
of their property
00:19:01
the last thing i wanted to do was have
00:19:03
to sue my insurance company
00:19:05
but they left me no choice
00:19:07
the suit argued that the insurance
00:19:10
company knew or should have known about
00:19:12
the potentially dangerous effects of
00:19:14
delaying repairs to water damage inside
00:19:18
of homes and buildings
00:19:21
dr michael gray sees more than 150
00:19:24
patients a year who suffer from exposure
00:19:26
to toxic molds
00:19:29
i concluded that ron allison was
00:19:32
definitely affected by the mycotoxins
00:19:35
which he was exposed to in the context
00:19:37
of his living environment in the house
00:19:39
that they lived in
00:19:40
in addition to medical experts ron's
00:19:43
attorney presented epidemiological
00:19:45
studies showing the relationship between
00:19:48
tricathazine the toxin found in
00:19:51
stachybotrys mold and mental functioning
00:19:55
i was confident that we had found
00:19:58
the kind of scientific information that
00:20:01
would allow us to
00:20:02
try this case to a jury
00:20:05
ron and melinda were asking the
00:20:07
insurance company for the cost of their
00:20:09
home and property
00:20:11
six million dollars
00:20:14
the jury took two and a half days to
00:20:16
come back with their verdict
00:20:18
but it was not for the six million
00:20:20
dollars melinda and ron asked for
00:20:24
the jury awarded the couple
00:20:26
32 million dollars
00:20:32
it was a great relief to me
00:20:35
that the jury system worked
00:20:40
i was obviously relieved
00:20:43
i had hoped that they would not get away
00:20:46
with what they had done
00:20:49
the verdict in this case is now on
00:20:51
appeal
00:20:54
the home once a showplace is now sitting
00:20:57
abandoned
00:20:59
it's been looted numerous times
00:21:03
ron is learning to live with an impaired
00:21:05
memory
00:21:07
he enters his daily schedule into his
00:21:09
hand-held computer each morning and
00:21:12
relies on its alarm to help him stay on
00:21:15
track
00:21:17
to make certain that people know their
00:21:19
rights relative to water damage in their
00:21:22
home
00:21:23
melinda created her own website
00:21:26
policyholdersofamerica.org
00:21:30
it's not just been a home
00:21:32
that has been lost here
00:21:34
it has been the health of a little boy
00:21:38
and a a
00:21:39
very energetic workaholic man
00:21:42
who has lost his identity
00:21:45
and i don't want to see this happen to
00:21:47
any other family i can promise you that
00:21:49
all of those medical doctors and
00:21:52
quality scientists
00:21:54
that have been involved in our case
00:21:57
are my heroes they are our heroes
00:22:03
[Music]
00:22:10
[Music]
00:22:16
so
00:22:17
[Music]
00:22:27
[Music]
00:22:36
you
