ENGLEWOOD, Fla. (WBBH) – A Florida man is fighting for his life in the hospital after having an asthma attack on Christmas Eve. His family’s troubles began when Hurricane His Ian flooded his home, causing toxic black mold.
Kendra Elliott’s bathroom and bedroom are off-limits to a family of five in Inglewood, Florida. Hurricane Ian flooded her house in September, and toxic black mold began to grow.
Elliott said neither the landlord nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency would clean the mold, so they lived with it.
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“When you touch a wall, you can almost push through it,” she said.
The danger culminated in an asthma attack on Christmas Eve that sent Elliott’s fiancée, 26-year-old Christian Childers, into a medically-induced coma.
“They were on their way to the emergency room but they didn’t make it in time. They had to pull over to the fire station and he went into cardiac arrest. I had to treat him for an hour to get him back on track,” Elliott said.
The couple had been looking for another location since the mold first appeared, but with FEMA refusing to help and denying rental fees from the roof, they have nowhere else to go.
Elliot now sits by his fiancée’s bedside during visiting hours, in addition to seeking safe housing. Little did she know that she would spend Christmas Day in the hospital.
“I wake up in the morning and say, ‘Where’s Christian?’ And I go to bed with his dirty clothes on, just to smell him at night. I didn’t expect this.” He’s the love of my life and I just want him to wake up. I will,” she said.
Childers’ condition may not improve, but his family is not giving up hope, according to the latest reports from the hospital.
To add insult to injury, the family’s landlord sent them an eviction notice after Elliot informed her of the hospitalization.
The county said it is in contact with FEMA and has assigned a team to help with the family’s case.
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