On Oct. 11, 1989, new carpet was installed in my mountain home. Within hours, my six year old daughter suffered a nosebleed that lasted over 30 minutes and doctors concluded that she had lost all the sinus lining in her head. That same night, I woke up two hours after going to bed, all my muscles had seized up, my heartbeat was over 200 beats per minute.
Because of all the chemicals (EPA said that new carpet was toxic soup of chemicals) which included hormone disruptors, my daughter grew up with only one breast. She also suffered from asthma for years and years. We have been through one long medical nightmare for the last 27 years, with absolutely NO support from the medical community.
I've lost two homes due to my multi-symptoms, which includes fibromyalgia and IBS. I can no longer go out to eat, nor can I travel. For the last 7 years, I have lived solely on SS Disability payments, which does not allow me to buy freely at the grocery store.
When we first got sick, I talked to a doctor Jeff Gift with the CDC in Atlanta and he told me that our prognosis was either/and colon cancer or leukemia. I was freelance paralegal and also a realtor. Now it is all I can do to sit up a few hours a day. Of course, I lost tons of friends, this tore my family up.
Yes, I sued Shaw. Owned by Warren Buffett. I took my case all the way through the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and they deemed our case to be extremely meritorious. After 4.5 years, they refused to allow me to take our case to the Supreme Court and they dismissed our case. We never saw a penny. This broke me financially.
Of course, I went public with our story and my attorneys (all of them were a joke, totally incompetent) told me that was our downfall. Yeah, right. Our downfall was that we were telling the truth, Shaw lied and lied and lied and is still lying...
My recommendation? NEVER buy any Shaw products. Ironically, I purchased our carpet through Sherwin Williams. This is why Shaw an Sherwin Williams are now the biggest advertisers on HGTV. My little ol' lawsuit brought these two nasty corporations together and now they tout their "green" products all day and all night on HGTV.
All I ever wanted was a place to call home. Warren Buffett can KMA.