Escaping Hoarder

CW -  Hoarding;  Unsanitary Environment;


TL;DR

Myself and my sibling (both adults, I am disabled & sibling is caretaker) are financially trapped in our mother's extremely unsanitary hoarder house;  our mother refuses to acknowledge that she is a hoarder, that there is any real issue with the house, or to get rid of any of her giant heaps of stuff;  none of our family is willing/able to help or acknowledge the issues with our mother or the house;  we are deteriorating physically, mentally, and financially every day that we spend here (me especially due to health issues combined with unsanitary living conditions);  we need to get out of here as soon as humanly possible.


About Us / The Situation

My name is Catherine, 25, and have multiple chronic illnesses including Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Ulcerative Colitis (UC), Gastroparesis, Hemorrhagic Ovarian Cysts, Endometriosis, Chronic Migraines, Chronic Sinusitis, Asthma, and more I'm currently being tested for diagnoses of, all of which combined leave me functionally disabled (aka unable to hold a job).

My sibling is Sam, 23, who is partly my caretaker and also has a job, which does make enough to pay rent, but does not make enough to be able to save to get us out of here on top of normal living expenses.

Our mother has had issues with hoarding since our childhood, and it has ony gotten worse over the years. It's now gotten to the point where over 3/4 of the house is unuseable due to giant "stuff piles". There are multiple bug and animal infestations, and there is an extreme build up of dust, pet dander and grime causing physical problems for everyone in the house, myself especially. It's an overall unsanitary and barely-livable environment... and yet our mother continues to deny that there is anything abnormal about this environment, or that she is in fact a hoarder.

There are four adults (including us, our mother, and her boyfriend) and three animals currently living in the house, including a large dog and two cats. The dog does not have anywhere to lay down without being directly in the way of the few paths through the house. One cat lives almost solely in our mother's bedroom, the other goes through the whole house, but both of them have most definitely gone to the bathroom in multiple inaccessible areas, which you can tell by the smell when you get close enough.

Due to the issues in the house (listed below) and other inter-familial issues, we are unable to save enough to move out while still paying for our normal living expenses, including but not limited to the medicine used to manage my health so that I can have a somewhat-decent quality of life. We have no family who is willing to help us, either because they are unable to, because they refuse to acknowledge that the house or our mother are problems, or because they've just decided not to.

We need help. We have completely run out of other options, and while we'd be capable of paying rent & bills once living somewhere, we have no way to actually get to that point. Anything you are willing to send is appreciated - you will be helping to completely change & improve our lives in a way that would otherwise be impossible.


About The House

Mold - visible and reoccurring in both bathrooms; in kitchen; by back door; in upstairs middle room; 
Walkways - the narrow clear spaces through the giant “piles of stuff” throughout the entire house; often not wide enough to extend elbows or arms; there is no available floor space for the dog to lay down & not be in the middle of a walkway;
Dust/Dirtiness - visible dust/grime on all non-useable surfaces (which is most of them); on the walls; collected and hanging from the ceiling; in/on all “stuff piles” (most piles have not been cleaned underneath in 10+yrs); unable to be fully eradicated due to how much exists that we simply cannot access to clean; air duct vents are blocked throughout the house, impeding air conditioning (have not been cleaned in 8+yrs);
Infestations - carpenter ants (discovered 1yr ago); tiny biting flies (6+months); rats (1+yr); squirrels (2+yrs); mosquitoes (yearly for 10+yrs); misc. seasonal bugs; get bug bites living in house throughout day; wake up with new bug bites;
Ceilings - giant hole which leads to roof in ceiling of upstairs middle room (8+yrs); visible water damage in ceilings/walls throughout house (10+yrs); drywall is missing from ceiling next to back door (due to leaking pipe from main bathroom directly above); hole in wall next to back door from squirrels eating through (2+yrs);
Basement - completely inaccessible; runs full length of house & fully filled with massive “stuff pile” (12+yrs); multiple safety violations re: electric & plumbing; windows at front of house are unsealed and deteriorating;
Windows - almost all windows are unsealed & rattle violently in even mild wind; some windows are inaccessible (except by climbing the “stuff piles”);
Our Bedroom - used to store extra things of our mother’s; both windows inaccessible; unsealed windows (so always at an uncomfortable temperature year round); door does not lock; both mattresses (15+yrs) & mattress toppers (8+yrs) are sunken in the middle and creating/contributing to physical problems;
Living - only spaces to live/study/eat are in our beds; on the large couch in the upstairs middle room (stuff piled on one end so only 2 people fit at a time); and at the kitchen table (only recently unearthed, blocks walkways & kitchen appliances with use);
Backyard - rat infestation in yard for over a year (have also been seen inside the house by the back door); yard border wall has opening to interior where squirrels & rats nest; old kitchen island left standing in back yard & covered in tarps has created covered area for nesting rats; seasonal mosquito infestation due to many objects collecting standing water; back door screen has holes & does not prevent bugs; bottom of back door is unsealed & lets bugs in year-round;
Bathrooms - both have visible mold & water damage; downstairs bathroom (DB) has a hole behind toilet leading to backyard; DB sink leaks so badly we shut off water to them; upstairs bathroom (UB) shower leaks through ceiling below (only shower in house);
Kitchen - stovetop has multiple burners only somewhat-functional; fridge is broken (freezes many things inside); water attachment on freezer is broken; ice maker in freezer is broken; fridge & freezer are constantly overstuffed so we can’t get our own groceries; wooden countertops surrounding sink have visible mold & rot; sink faucet is half broken & slowly breaking further; cabinets are full of expired food and things we do not eat; the storage space above cabinets, knickknacks covering it, and ceiling above are visibly filthy;
Laundry Area - constant piles of dirty laundry at top of stairs and by back door; we are rarely allowed to do laundry; no proper ventilation for the dryer (condensation from which caused the cabinet above the washing machine to fall off the wall); washer & dryer are “balanced” on cinderblocks; washer often goes off balance and bangs loudly against wall;