Family finds themselves victims of mold

About four years ago Pastor Nick Picklesimer’s wife, Sarah, started getting sick with respiratory problems — she was having trouble breathing and whenever she caught a cold it would take weeks to get over it, while other people she knew would be back on their feet in a few days.

The couple also has four kids and they were getting sick more than normal, too. Judah, who is now 7, would break out in hives and developed severe allergies.

Nick is the pastor at Canyon Community Church and the family lived in the church’s parsonage. A parsonage is a home provided by the church for its pastor.

In this case, it was a doublewide trailer from 1980 with a full basement. One wet day in June, Sarah went in the basement of the home and her feet squished in water from runoff and snowmelt. The carpet was soaked. The water went over her feet.

When they got things dried out they found the culprit to their ills — toxic mold.

The underside of the carpet was black with it. They tore apart the walls and there was mold growing behind the paneling.

A firm came and did remediation on the basement and it looked great. But they still suffered from a strange malaise.

Their daughter, Anabelle, then became sick. A blood marker test that measures inflammation was about 2,000% higher than it should be, Sarah explained.

The problem was there was also mold in the upstairs levels of the house.

Rather than try to clean the aging trailer, the church decided to tear it down.

That was a year ago this month. The small church of about 70 or so members in Coram then went to work fundraising for a new parsonage. So far, they’ve raised more than $250,000 and have ordered a new Stratford Home for the Picklesimers.

Stratford builds customized modular homes. When it arrives this fall, it should go up in a few days, the Picklesimers said.

For the time being, they’re living in a 1,200 square-foot apartment in Columbia Falls. That might seem a bit cramped for a family of six, but their health has markedly improved.

“We are so much better, night and day,” Sarah said.

The family now awaits their new home to arrive — the Stratford is about 1,700 square feet and will sit next to the church in Coram. It also will have a partial basement.

The church continues to do fundraising not only for the new parsonage, but for the Picklesimer family. There’s still significant costs with putting up the new home and getting the Picklesimer’s fully on their feet again.

As the mold spores can contaminate all porous surfaces, the Picklesimer lost nearly all of their personal belongings, including most of their clothing and any porous furniture.

“We lost almost everything,” Sarah said.

Nick is part of Village Missions, a Christian organization which brings pastors to small churches like Coram. The congregation in turn, pays for the family’s housing.

Folks who want to support the effort can contact the church directly at: 406-387-9452.