Help Penn move out of an unhealthy living arrangement
Donation protected
Hello there. I am Penn Montes, or who most know as “PopDroppy” or who my supporters have previously known as Poppy. I am a freelance furry illustrator that has been dealing with a steadily worsening living situation that has been becoming more dire over the course of about a decade. Everything I've been dealing with has compounded to a nasty situation that I’m forced to resort to crowdfunding to fix.
For the past decade, I alone have been dealing with a steadily worsening mold situation. I've been documenting the development of extensive water damage in only my room that has resulted in accelerated mold growth of various species, which you can find in order below. As someone with asthma and was twice infected with covid, this is something that I am especially vulnerable to. Some symptoms include light menstrual bleeding every other week, shortness of breath/congestion, Coughing, lethargy, migraines, brain fog, Memory loss, and more frequent depressive episodes.This is in line with the common symptoms of mold exposure and go back at least a year and a half.
I already have multiple mental health issues that the mold is aggravating, causing issues with keeping my space clean due to lack of energy and deep issues with anxiety, behavior, and depression. Some flagship symptoms (menstrual breakthrough bleeding) are also causing more depression, distress and anxiety for simply popping up. Some other mental health issues go completely unacknowledged despite doing my best to advocate for myself. I am even beginning to suspect that some neurological issues have started to develop such as motor tics, which is another indicator of mycotoxins. I have highlighted all of the symptoms that have cropped up over the last year below, with green indicating pre-existing conditions aggrivated by the mold.
As of right now, I still live with my parents a bit outside NYC. My parents are in denial of the issue and insist it is not mold. They have actively discouraged me from getting mold tests done and hiring people to fix or even look at the issue. This is not the only thing that my parents are putting me through, however. For more extensive examples, please refer to this bulletin I put out to inform my clients in June of 2020. https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9535505/
In short, they do not take my worries seriously despite every other person I’ve shown this evidence to telling me I need to get out yesterday. They do not want to even bring the landlord in for fear of them “raising the rent” to cover the issue being fixed, and have blatantly demanded I stop telling people, especially my friends. They don't even want me talking to 311.
In times I have asked them to bring people in, I am instead blamed for not keeping my space clean long enough despite offering multiple solutions that would work. When it is clean, they keep putting it off, and eventually blame me for them being unable to bring anyone in when my space starts becoming messy again months later. This has been an ongoing issue since November of last year.
Every time it rains, Water gushes inside the wall, and has even begun to drip down the blinds. Mold spores are growing on top of the paint. Despite these obvious signs that the situation involves mold, my concerns are aggressively dismissed, even when I don’t bring it up at all, or the topic is unrelated.
My parents also for some reason do not want me to move my workstation or sleep outside of my room, which means whenever I need to work on my orders, I am exposing myself to mold for upwards of 8-12 hours. That does not count sleeping either.
On top of this I have unfortunately neglected myself medically. While I can get procedures done due to having insurance, I do not have any faith my parents will take care of me while I'm recovering based on how neglectful and dismissive they have been about the mold situation nor am I confident the mold will not cause complications while recovering. This has resulted in various delays in dental procedures (pulling wisdom/dead teeth) as well as gender affirming surgery.
My job has only scheduled me 1-2 shifts a week for the past year and a half, and have not contacted me to cover any extra shifts. This has eaten through my savings, my weekly paycheck, and wound up with me accruing credit card debt to both feed myself, travel to/from work and doctors, and keep my finances afloat. I’ve been unsuccessful in obtaining a second job, and I don’t want to take more orders than I am churning out. Of course, that isn’t the only reason my debt is so high.
Unfortunately in order to self-medicate and better cope with the situation, I had adopted a habit of substance abuse (Cannabis) to curb the stress/anxiety/depression from the situation, as well as trips as a means to properly escape for a week or so every few months. I use the term “Substance abuse” as I have proven to be more than capable of stopping/ cutting back if need be without any adverse effects. Most of my credit sources are maxed out, and total around 10k USD. Even with my day job, I cannot afford to pay the minimums unless I move.
My mother had also opened a credit card under my name when I turned 18 (which was for a good reason, but still without my consent) but as I do not have access to the hard number of that balance, I unfortunately cannot state for certain how much debt is tied to my name. However, it is still important to note as there is a sizable chance that by moving so forcefully it may be shunted onto me properly as things escalate between me and my parents. If that is the case, I will post an update disclosing the total amount i am in debt with screenshots of my statement balances.
My partner BanryuWolf and I also have secured conclusive evidence that my lack of productivity is purely due to my living environment, and that my symptoms are mostly from the mold. I’d be moving in with him, and would only need to cover my share of our monthly costs.
Unfortunately since my parents do not acknowledge that this is a pervasive mold issue, they will never come to terms with why I have to move so soon nor its urgency. This will very likely cause unknown complications and expenses in the moving process, which will be pushed out as an update.
This is incredibly short notice, as I would like to clear out and find a job before the holiday season starts. I really only need around 2.5k to cover the moving costs, and anything more would be to stabilize my financial situation and any other costs that may come up (like filing for a new state id, mail forwarding, etc) as well as cover my share of monthly costs. This also will help me cover costs that make me more independent, including obtaining a new cellphone under my own plan. Thus, the goal is set at 8k to allow myself a fighting chance of getting my life in order.
To be blunt: This situation has resulted from about a decade of untreated and blatantly dismissed environmental, physical and psychological problems, causing extensive damage to my quality of life, finances, and overall health. I would like to be able to move out by Mid- November, but I cannot secure those funds without your help.
Organizer
Penn Montes
Organizer
Woodside, NY