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By Daniella Gray
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After giving birth to her son in 2019, Florida mom Alexis Babcock assumed she was dealing with challenges that many new mothers face.
But as the months turned into years, the symptoms kept getting worse.
Thirty-six-year-old Babcock, who has three children with her husband, Paul, 40, told Newsweek that what initially seemed like postpartum exhaustion gradually became a collection of more than 20 daily symptoms.
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They included vertigo, tinnitus, migraines, joint pain, extreme fatigue, anxiety and hair loss.
"The turning point was my cognitive decline," Alexis said. "I struggled to find words, remember things and manage ordinary tasks. As someone who had always been organized and capable of juggling a busy family life, I felt like I was losing myself."
At the same time, her son Silas was experiencing a growing list of health issues.
Since birth, he had suffered recurrent fevers, headaches, joint pain, gastrointestinal problems and frequent infections.
By his fourth birthday, Alexis said she had logged more than 40 medical visits.
In the six months before the family left their home in Wesley Chapel, Florida, concerns escalated when Silas was hospitalized with parotitis (swelling of the salivary glands located over the jaw) and cellulitis (skin infection).
Alexis' daughter, Reese, began losing hair, and two other relatives developed serious respiratory illnesses.
"Seeing multiple family members struggling in different ways made me question whether there was something we were overlooking," Alexis said.
In 2024, while searching for information online, the mom of three came across content from a certified Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) coach known as "The Biotoxin Lady," who shared her own experience of illness linked to a water-damaged home.
Proponents of the CIRS diagnosis say the immune system response, which involves inflammation of multiple organs, is due to exposure to mold or other toxins in the environment. However this is not widely considered to be an established medical diagnosis. That does not mean mold—or other types of fungal growth—is not responsible for certain serious health risks.
"Her symptoms sounded remarkably familiar, and for the first time, I began questioning whether our environment could be contributing to our family's health problems," Alexis said.
The family started noticing musty odors, water staining near an HVAC closet and wallpaper lifting in one of the children's bedrooms.
Behind the wallpaper, she and Paul discovered mold growth near where Silas slept.
They also uncovered saturated building materials behind kitchen cabinetry, along with additional moisture-related issues involving the roof, stucco and HVAC system.
The family left their home in October 2024.
Subsequent environmental inspections identified water intrusion and damaged building materials.
After years of searching for answers, both Alexis and Silas were diagnosed with chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) by clinicians using the Shoemaker framework, a diagnostic approach developed by physician Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker that evaluates symptoms, exposure history and a range of laboratory markers in people suspected of having an illness related to water-damaged buildings.
Again, CIRS and the Shoemaker framework remain subjects of debate and are not universally accepted within conventional medicine.
In a UCLA Health article, physicians Eve Glazier and Elizabeth Ko said that "[one] concern is that a focus on CIRS may delay other diagnoses. Other causes could be missed. In a more conventional medical path, a doctor would explore other causes... These could include endocrine disorders, vitamin deficiencies, electrolyte imbalance, central nervous system disorders and peripheral neuropathies. Undiagnosed asthma, Lyme disease, sleep disorder and autoimmune conditions could also be checked."
Still, they also added: "Many chronic or environmental illnesses from mold exposure rely on removing the source of exposure. Then it’s about managing symptoms, usually not relying solely on antifungal medications."
Alexis' evaluation also included a brain MRI, which she said identified atrophy in three brain regions.
"After years of memory difficulties and cognitive symptoms, that finding was especially frightening," she said.
Since moving out and beginning treatment, Alexis said that many of her neurological symptoms improved.
Silas, now 7, has also shown progress, though both remain in treatment and continue to be monitored by specialists.
But the family's ordeal came at a cost.
Alexis estimated they lost more than $100,000 through remediation expenses, discarded belongings and uninsured damages.
The family of five also spent two years living with relatives before purchasing a new home in October 2026.
Today, Alexis works as a CIRS coach and consultant, helping others navigate questions about environmental illness.
She is careful not to suggest mold is behind every unexplained symptom.
Instead, she hopes that by sharing her story, people will continue advocating for themselves when answers remain elusive.
"I never would have chosen what happened to our family, but I'm grateful that something meaningful has grown from such a difficult chapter," Alexis said.
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