Colorado Mountain Climber founds National Nonprofit to Aid Victims of Toxic Mold
Adventure sports photographer Jonathan Lee Wright, a recovering toxic mold poisoning victim himself, saw a need during his own battle with the illness and launched the Fungal Disease Resource Center.
(PRWEB) August 3, 2005 -- Adventure sports photographer Jonathan Lee Wright
has founded a national charitable nonprofit to aid victims made sick by toxic
mold.
Wright, himself a recovering toxic mold poisoning victim, saw a
need during his own battle with illness and launched the Fungal Disease Resource
Center (FDRC) to help solve an issue recently described by senior congressional
staff as a public health emergency.
"After years of disabling illness,
and with no help from doctors, I finally determined that mold from a home I
lived in years before had contaminated all of my possessions, and was literally
killing me,” said Wright. "In November of 2003, I threw out nearly everything I
owned, including my commercial photo library, and decided to go camping in the
fresh air of the outdoors to recover."
The FDRC is a Colorado-based
nonprofit corporation and has received expedited emergency application
processing for 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. FDRC will raise nearly a million
dollars in its first year for victim services and research support.
"This amount of money won't solve all the problems in the next year, but
it's going to be a good start" said Wright. FDRC has recruited help from a
variety of disciplines – doctors, Congressional staff, and legal and media
professionals, among others – and has a vast support network consisting of
recovering victims.
“The talent base we have for this effort is
invaluable; we’re thankful for their support, guidance and commitment to solving
this problem,” said Wright.
Wright’s personal story is one of the reasons
FDRC has attracted its initial support. Wright estimates he spent over 300
nights outdoors in 2004, many times in subfreezing temperatures. Here, he found
breathing clean air gave his immune system a rest, and that he was able to
slowly recover from what he now recognizes as poisoning.
"For people who
are susceptible to this -- and new research shows that means almost 25% of the
population -- mold in your home can slowly poison you, and then your immune
system goes berserk," he said.
In September of 2004, Wright testified
before the U.S. House of Representatives in support of a bill intended to aid
victims of toxic mold. But it has been an uphill battle. Despite hand-delivering
materials and the written testimony of hundreds of victims across the country to
virtually every office of the U.S. House and many members of the Senate, there
has been little response from lawmakers -- either in Colorado or the rest of the
country.
Joel Segal, Public Affairs Director for Congressman John Conyers
(D-MI), has acknowledged the problem. In a public statement during a national
forum conducted by the US Surgeon General in January 2005, he said, "We've had
more calls on this than any other single issue, including universal health care
-- since sponsoring House Resolution 1268 (in support of aid to toxic mold
victims), we have been receiving at least 10 calls per day for the last three
years from victims who are displaced, calling from motels, sick and living in
cars," he reports.
Says Wright: "I'm not alone in Colorado -- every week,
more people who have been affected by toxic mold poisoning find us though our
advocate network. Their lives are utterly destroyed -- you lose your health,
your home and everything you own -- and no one cares."
"Everyone from
small children to the elderly are dying from this -- something has to be done.
So we're going to step up and do the right thing until the government can see
fit to do the same. But we can't do it alone.” The FDRC seeks public donations
and public health grants to support its work.
Leading physician
researcher and FDRC Medical Director Ritchie Shoemaker, MD, offers advice to
fellow practitioners: "The acute and chronic illnesses caused by mold are easily
diagnosed using a published case definition. We have effective screening,
treatment and followup procedures -- no one should suffer needlessly from mold
illness. For physicians, learning to identify these disorders is not only simple
-- but also an insight into an exciting new field of medicine."
Wright
concludes, “People need to know that when they support the FDRC they are not
only helping others, they are protecting themselves and their families with
knowledge of the true health risks from mold."
For more information,
visit the Fungal Disease Resource Center on the web at:
http://www.fdrcinc.org
Media contacts:
FDRC media office
(719) 429
4787
Jonathan Lee Wright / Commercial photography site
http://www.jonathanleewright.com
Congressman John
Conyers, Jr / Link to legislation HR1269
http://www.house.gov/conyers/mold.htm
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb268644.htm