Moldy Apartment Vents Destroyed My Health (Exclusive)
2025-04-27T11:18:39Z
Hallie Fuchs struggled with rashes, brain fog and sinus infections so severe she needed surgery until TikTokers saw the black marks on her vent in the background of a video, and realized it was mold. Now she’s telling her story to PEOPLE.
Hallie Fuchs and her husband John didn’t know when they moved into their new apartment in a resort-style complex in Boca Raton, Fla., that it would trigger a debilitating health struggle. “It felt like my body was under attack like all of the time,” Fuchs, 27, who ended up needing sinus surgery for a golf ball-sized infection, says. Her husband developed severe fatigue; she developed a bright red face rash. The brain fog was debilitating.
It wasn’t until she made a TikTok video begging for help that commenters noticed the black marks on her ceiling vent — marks a maintenance worker had dismissed as being caused by candle smoke. But when they had the marks tested, the couple discovered it was toxic mold. Fuchs shares her story with PEOPLE’s Cara Lynn Shultz.
When my husband, John, and I first moved into a new apartment complex in Boca Raton, Fla., in May 2020, we thought it was super luxurious. They had a resort-style pool with chairs and umbrellas, and a fire pit. They had an oversized chess board we thought was fancy and cool. A beautiful gym. Basically, everything that you would want in a Florida apartment.
Hallie Fuchs (left) and her husband, John. Hallie Fuchs
But when we moved in, we quickly realized that everything was not exactly how we thought it would be. If you accidentally hit the baseboard, it would fall off. The panels underneath the cabinets would sometimes come loose. You could accidentally knock something and it would fall apart. Our dishwasher had stopped working — and the maintenance worker said, while he was fixing the dishwasher, “You guys need to stop lighting so many candles.”
I was a little confused because we don’t really light candles, but he was saying the black mark on our vents could be from candle smoke. There were black streaks coming out of the vent.
While we lived there, I started experiencing watery eyes, really severe sinus problems and a red rash all over my cheeks. I have really bad allergies — so at first, I thought maybe my allergies were just progressing. Then I thought it was the face wash I was using, or my makeup, but when I changed it that didn’t help. I developed really bad headaches and digestive problems. I had bad inflammation in my body, so I felt really puffy and bloated. I did have a diagnosis for adenomyosis, but it was being aggravated by something. I felt pain in my uterus, and I developed brain fog.
Hallie Fuchs underwent sinus surgery due to an infection. Hallie Fuchs
It felt like my body was under attack all of the time.
It got to the point where I had to have sinus surgery in October of 2020, because I had a golf ball-sized infection. But I didn’t put together that it was all connected: When you go to a doctor, they’re only looking at their area of expertise.
My sinus surgeon was working on my sinuses and my allergies. My gynecologist was working on the pain. Then the brain fog added another layer on top of that because I wasn’t able to see the bigger picture. I was just trying to survive day to day. That might sound dramatic, but when your body is under attack all the time, even small tasks — taking a shower, cooking dinner, going to the gym — becomes like climbing a mountain. I would be so exhausted after one thing that I couldn’t even focus on the fact that something overall had to be going on and I couldn’t figure it out.
Hallie Fuchs developed a persistent rash on her face. Hallie Fuchs
My husband, John, was also affected. He has agoraphobia, ADHD and anxiety, and his agoraphobia got so much worse. He would have these horrible headaches. He had no energy and would fall back asleep by 11 a.m. even while he was supposed to be working.
We drove to South Carolina in an RV to visit John’s family in February 2025. All of a sudden I was like, “Oh my gosh, I actually feel better in the RV than I do at home.” It was like someone flipped a switch. That first night that we were home, I immediately started getting all of the symptoms again. And I just broke down crying and said, ”I can’t do this anymore. I’m so tired of feeling sick. I’m so tired of not having any answers.”
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I was seeing other videos on TikTok of people talking about a problem and people in the comments would have insight, so I posted a video on TikTok on February 25 — I never expected every single comment to point to the same particular thing. Everybody on the original TikTok video actually said, “Look behind your head … you can literally see black on the vent.”
We decided to hire a third party mold inspector to come out and do a test. On February 28, the results came back with severe levels of toxic mold. The swab that the tester took in the vent itself, I actually remember him saying there would have to be a thick caked-up layer of mold for that test to come back that high. All this time, I would just lay in bed and or lay on the couch and try to rest and see if that would make me feel better, but I was actually making it worse because I was literally sitting with an air vent blasting on my face.
Black marks on the vent inside Hallie Fuchs’ apartment. Hallie Fuchs
We had been planning to move to Fairfield, Conn., my hometown, when our lease was up in two months, but this just sped up the process. Within 10 days we packed up everything we were taking with us. We had to throw out so much: I had to get rid of every single piece of makeup. Our mattress, our couch that we thought we were gonna have for 10 years, about 80% of our clothes — all gone. Everything else had to be washed with a special antimicrobial detergent. They treated the wooden things and metal things, but in the back of your head, who knows if there’s still spores on it after the treatment. I really wanted a fresh start.
As soon as we left, my rash was gone. My energy levels started returning very quickly. My pain levels and inflammation have also gotten so much better. John has had almost no agoraphobia symptoms.
Hallie Fuchs was told it the black marks on her ceiling vent were candle smoke. Hallie Fuchs
Before we left, we spoke to about 10 different neighbors. Almost every single one of the people that we spoke to said that either they or their spouse or their kids or even their pets were experiencing some type of symptom that couldn’t be explained by anything else. People told us they also had their apartment tested, but when they went to the apartment management, they were told, “That company is scamming you. They just want your money.”
Our old apartment was available for rent as soon as we moved out. They claimed it was habitable.
Now I find myself walking around restaurants and shops and taking a look at the vents. My doctors have warned me to pay attention to symptoms for any long-term effects.
I hope that my story helps even one person figure out what’s going on with them. We had air purifiers in every room, we kept the air-conditioner on low and we still had mold. Maybe people are a little bit embarrassed about the idea of mold in their home, but I can tell you, we did everything right and it still happens.
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