Kairi's story

My name is Kairi Walters, I live in Knoxville, IA, I am two years old and I have lead poisoning. My mommy and daddy found out almost a year ago that I have an elevated lead level. When we found out my lead level had reached 49. For those that do not understand what that number means, my lead level had reached a very dangerous level. The level I had was in the category of Medical evaluation, chelation and case management. Lucky for me so far my levels have been dropping without medicine but they are still elevated. At my last check it was 23. My doctor, mommy and daddy have been trying to treat my lead poisoning with a proper diet. So far it is working but working slowly. We had a lead inspector come to our house to find out what was making me sick. He told us we have high levels of lead in our home and that was the cause. Even though the house we live in had been gutted and remodeled about fifteen years ago after a fire there was still lead in the house from things that did not get remodeled. There is lead all over the outside, in some of the windows and some of the wall inside as well. My daddy had been working on the outside of the house before he knew about the lead, scraping and painting and this caused the lead dust and chips to get all over the place. This a long with lead on the window ledge in our living room is most likely what made me sick. I am currently in speech therapy and we do not know if the lead caused any other problems and we won't know until I am bigger. Now my mommy and daddy are working hard to make my home safe. They have already put new windows in the living room but do not have any more money to do the rest of the repairs. My daddy lost his job last year and he just got a new job a couple months ago. My mommy and daddy have been searching for grants to help make our home safe and so far they have found out that there is nothing where we live. They really want to make the house safe for me, my brother and sisters. This is only the beginning of my story, I have a long road ahead of me while I heal from the poison that was in my body. My mommy and daddy will continue doing all they can to find ways to make our house safe.