We were lucky to catch up with Andi Hembroff recently and have shared our conversation below.
Andi, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
How I found my purpose is a story filled with fungi and irony.
I am most in my element when I’m in the woods. I love walking through the trees, soaking in all the sounds, smells, and life of the forest. Being in the woods has always fed my soul and quieted that part of me that can be so noisy at times. Life moves so fast and so much can happen, but being in the woods just quiets all that chatter and stops the clock. I am always excited to cross paths with fungi friends. If you know anything about me, you know that I love mushrooms. Actually, you could say I’m borderline obsessed! My home is literally filled with mushrooms; mushroom decor line my shelves, pictures of mushrooms fill my walls, and books about mushrooms overflow my bookshelves. I’m fascinated by their resilience, their almost humanlike efforts to maintain life and proliferate. Fungi also carry incredible healing potential. They can heal not only our bodies, but also heal our earth as well. Fungi fascinates me and I will forever stop to admire a mushroom if one ever crosses my path. If you accompany me on a walk in the woods, you will be forced to take notice of every mushroom we encounter and hear mushroom factoids. My obsession is obnoxious and those who love me oblige me in my love of fungi.
The way I got sick is nothing short of ironic. In 2017, my 2-year-old daughter contracted lead-poisoning from our rental home in Minneapolis. Thankfully we caught it right away and immediately relocated our family. I purchased my first home with my husband in October of 2017. We didn’t quality for much of a home loan, but we were so excited to grow our family in our modest home. About a year after being in the home, my health started to decline rapidly. The myriad of symptoms I was experiencing was strange and seemingly unrelated. It started with ringing in my ears that continued to be more and more persistent. Then I start experiencing migraines that were so unmanageable that I went to the ER. I had migraines that lasted for months on end that were accompanied by very scary dementia-like symptoms. I was also experiencing bizarre seizure-like episodes On October 28, 2018 I had a CT scan in the ER. Notes on file say I was complaining of a headache, confusion, and had visual disturbances. The results of the CT scan showed nothing of concern and I was sent home. The headaches didn’t stop. My last bad migraine lasted 4 solid months, day and night, all hours of the day. I was suffering so much that I did not want to continue living and at times I begged my husband to help me die.
In February of 2020, I was diagnosed with late-stage neurological Lyme disease and co-infections. I treated the Lyme for almost a year under the care of a functional provider, but failed to improve. In November of 2020, I really started looking at my environment. A very sweet woman in Colorado reached out to me on social media and insisted that I was living in mold and this was why my health wasn’t improving. She was weirdly persistent and I thank God for her every day. Today I love her dearly and I will always be grateful for her “making it weird.” Because of Carrie, we started looking for mold. I wasn’t improving by attacking the Lyme and I had never considered environmental factors. I had absolutely no idea about the harm mold could do. Also, I had no idea I was living in mold. The visible mold in our home was very minimal, but we would soon discover that the amount of hidden toxic mold in our home was substantial.
In March of 2020, I rewrote my life insurance policy. I tripled my coverage and set forth a plan to take my life. I made these plans and wrote letters for almost a year. I was either going to get better or I was going to take my life. I didn’t want to die but I was suffering and my quality of life was not good.
See how ironic this all this??? Forest-loving, mushroom enthusiast sick with Lyme disease and mold toxicity. Good lord, the irony is overwhelming.
By the time we started looking at environmental factors, our financial resources were exhausted. My husband and I have really a lot of love in our marriage, but wealth has never been one of our many blessings.
Bless my sweet husband’s heart, when I said we had to move our family into a tent, he quietly obliged. He was a chef and working crazy hours. I was mostly bedbound and unable to work. I was suffering from such extreme anxiety that sometimes I couldn’t even go grocery shopping. My kidneys started to show signs of failure and were causing me a lot of pain. I had inflammation that moved around my body and caused debilitating pain. Migraines persisted and I fell often because I was always dizzy. But somehow, I convinced my hardworking chef husband to move 2 dogs, 2 small kids, and all of our provisions into a tent in the backyard. My sweet man slept on an air mattress after working insane hours. We spent 3 months that tent in our backyard with 2 kids ages 4 and 6. My oldest son stayed with his father. I didn’t see him for months. I didn’t want to expose him to mold and I couldn’t justify him sleeping in a tent and being homeless when his father had a beautiful and safe home for him to sleep in. Also, I didn’t want my son to see how sick I was. He was old enough to understand how bad it was. It was really hard being away from him that long, but it was in his best interest to have it that way.
While living the tent, I decided that if I was planning on ending my life, I better fight like hell to get better. I read everything I could get my hands on regarding indoor air quality, mold remediation, mold testing, and mold illness. I devoured books. Because I was so cognitively declined, reading was tough at first. However, part of my healing process involved rewiring my brain. I worked hard to encourage neuron connection. I made a goal of reading every day, doing a puzzle, learning something new, and changing my routine. All of these things encourage neuroplasticity. Besides reading about treating mold illness, I also read a lot of books of neurosciences and brain health. I learned a lot during my journey fighting back to health and I’m grateful for my ability to read and understand scientific topics. That alone is worth my debt in student loans!
In November of 2021 after we had remediated our home and I was well enough to work again, I reached out to the owner of a local mold remediation and indoor air quality company. I chased Charles Clark down for about 2 months and insisted that he hire me. I told him that I would show up on his front step if he didn’t hire me. After about 2 months, he decided to hire me. He created a position within his company for me. On my first day of work, neither one of us knew exactly what I would be doing. Over the past 2 years I’ve created my own role in my boss’s organization. I work as a client advocate and director of education. I guide our clients through the process of diagnosing their environments and healing their homes. Mold remediation and indoor air quality is very personal for me and it shows in my work.
Another effort I am taking to make change is forming the Minnesota Mold Illness group. Right now we are just a Facebook group, but eventually I would like to become more organized, encourage awareness, offer support, and bring those who are suffering together. Together we can be a bigger voice and make real change. If you are navigating mold illness and you are located in Minnesota, please come join our group on Facebook at Minnesota Mold Illness.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
The most exciting and rewarding part of my job is working with healthcare providers. Prior to becoming an indoor environmentalist, I was working towards becoming a physician assistant. I excelled in the sciences and I’ve always known I wanted to help others heal. However, I never found my niche or my passion in any particular discipline of medicine. After I navigated my own battle with environmental illness, I found my passion in the indoor sciences. I get most excited about connecting healthcare providers with indoor environmental professionals. Not only do I believe that this collaborative effort is so important in helping others heal, but it also speaks to my heart as a healer. I’m grateful for my journey, for my suffering, and for my experiences because it brought me where I am today. I believe that the work I do is very important. It’s very personal to me and I enjoy it very much.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
An area of knowledge that has been incredibly impactful on my journey in the indoor sciences and mold remediation is my affinity towards fungi and mushrooms. Long before mold was even on my radar, I was reading about mycelial networks and fungi. This basic understanding of fungi was a useful segue into understanding fungal ecologies in the indoor environment. Another area of knowledge that has been impactful in my journey is my education in the sciences. I’m grateful for my previous education and affinity to reading because I was able to navigate my own healing process through reading books authored by mold-literate doctors. When it got too cold to live in the tent do my reading from there, my kitchen table became my battleground and was covered in books for months while I fought for my life by reading and learning. I like to say that I know a little bit about everything and this has proven to be useful in creating connections between healthcare providers and indoor environmental professionals. I have enough knowledge to speak intelligently on both fields of study in order to facilitate a collaborative effort. No progress can be made in healing environmental illnesses if we can’t come together as professionals to heal both body and home. Lastly, a quality of mine that has been most impactful in my journey is my propensity to advocate for myself. I have been known to be stubborn and it has always been hard for me to ask for help. I knew no one was coming to save me so it was up to me to do my own research, trust my instincts, and advocate for myself. I am grateful to now be in a position and have the knowledge to advocate for others.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I have to give credit to my boss Charles Clark. I know he took a risk when he hired me. Most folks would think he was crazy for hiring a mold-sensitive individual to work for him in his mold remediation business. I was persistent and I think he recognized my passion and I’m so grateful that he did. Not only did he take a chance on me but he also gave me the freedom to really develop my own role in his organization. What we have done together in this business is innovative and trailblazing. To date, I do not know of another mold remediation company that has someone like me in their organization. I work to build a bridge between healthcare providers and indoor environmentalists. This effort not only benefits my boss and his business, but also benefits folks like me who are suffering and desperately need that collaborative effort between healers of bodies and healers of homes. We cannot be well in a sick environment, trying to do so is counterproductive. When Charles allowed me to create my own role in his organization, he capitalized on my specific strengths. He wasn’t trying to fit a square peg into a round hole; he allowed me to find my own place in his company based on my passions and my strengths. I know he took a chance on me and he continues to invest in me. I’m very grateful for the opportunity and the great amount of knowledge I’ve gained working for him. We have done great things together and I look forward to the work we will do to further impact this industry.
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