OK, babies. Come over here. Oh, what a good boy. Rusty, don't do that. I'm Nancy. And I'm retired from
the phone company. Rusty, leave him alone. Come on. I think I'm a hoarder. I like to collect
books, CDs, and videos. And I like to collect things
that have to do with creating. I think I started collecting
things or hoarding things when I was a child. But what I like to collect
and what I end up collecting aren't always the same things. My house is filled with
empty bottles, empty boxes, and empty dog food cans. Instead of throwing them away,
I let the dogs lick them clean. There. And then I never manage to
pick them up off the floor and throw them away. My name is Michelle. And Nancy is my aunt. She can't even sit at a table
or make a meal in her kitchen because she would be standing
on two feet of garbage. And I don't know what
happened to her bedroom. I can't even see if there's
a mattress in there. It's filthy. She cannot turn on
the heat in her home. I'm afraid of her getting
hypothermia, pneumonia. I'm really confused
what happened. My name's Janine. And Nancy's my sister. When you can sleep in garbage
like that, or the crap laying on the floor, at some
point she has decided that life's OK like this. And she's not of any value. Her house was always messy. But it was never
to this extreme. When I am in my aunt's
house, I feel sad. It's very difficult for
me to watch her decline. We pray for my sister
a lot because she's dying a slow death. And if she doesn't
get help, she's going to die in that house. And I can't stand
the thought of that. All right, you guys. So we got to get started. We have the bio crew here. They're going to take care of
the really bad stuff in there. My name is Corey Chalmers. I'm an extreme cleaner
that specializes in biohazard and hoarding. What-- you look like you
have concerns already. What's wrong? I just want to say,
please do not ask me why I want to keep something. Listen, if we
don't question you-- this is how you got here, OK? This is your thinking process. So if you don't change some
of that thinking process, then we're going to end up
right back where we were. So there are going to be
some challenges to the way that you think. What's of value is right here. Nancy, you want to
come sit right here? First thing I'd like
to do this morning is take Nancy and her
family into the kitchen. I want them to work together,
learn to communicate, talk about things. Because once we
leave, they're going to be stuck with this mess. I think you will agree
that the majority of this is gonna be trash. Yes. OK. The bottom fell out. Look at the spiders in that. Ew, spiders. Let me see, please. Nancy, it's covered in feces. I just wanna look in there. It's not [inaudible]. It's heavy. I've seen it. Everything was going
fine in the kitchen. But then all of a sudden,
Janine just kind of had a breakdown, looked like. She just started staring at the
floor, you know, and crying. I'm just upset. I've never experienced
anything like this. I think reality set
in of how her sister's been cooking and eating in
filthy, disgusting conditions. I can't believe
this is a house. This is a house. I know. This is a kitchen. But she-- she
fixed food in that? And then put it in her body? She says she comes
in here and cooks. - Yeah.
- No. Oh, god help me. The microwave is
covered in rodent feces. And to think of preparing food
in that type of environment-- there just aren't certain words. Your sister's really having a
hard time being in this kitchen where you're cooking and eating
and putting stuff in your body. It's heartbreaking. And this is one
reason I would never have told you what was going
on, because I don't want to see you distressed about it. Life is never meant
to be walked alone. You can't walk alone. You understand that? I do. I do. I didn't know if
I could trust you. But now I know I can. I'm sorry. What were you afraid
of before, Nancy? Judgment and rejection. And are you feeling that now? No, not at all. I didn't [inaudible]
any form of it, nothing. All these tears
from all of you are because they want you
to live a better life, and because you
want a better life. You all want the same goal. So you've got to give
this back to them and show them that you
really do appreciate them getting us here. I can do that. Break! OK. This one's full. I just have to throw it away. Good job. What's really scary here is
look at-- when you touch this-- I'm really worried right now. We're cleaning out the kitchen. And we're finding very
significant damage. There's nothing left. We need to bring the
whole family together. We need to show them that
this house is literally crumbling right around her. You have major
slant to your floor back here, where the
house is actually sinking. You also can see the mold
damage all through that wall. It's very evident now
with all the damage that we've uncovered that
Nancy cannot stay in this home. I know it's not good news. But is this anything that
you didn't already know? Well, I didn't know
it was as bad as it is. I just need some
time to accept it. It's just too hard. Everything can only
get better from here. How do you get worse
than living in a home filled with dog waste? Really? OK. I am Dr. Michael Tompkins. I'm a psychologist. And I specialize
in the treatment of obsessive compulsive
spectrum disorders, like hoarding disorder. The real consequence
of what now is starting to sink in
for Nancy-- and I think that she's just overwhelmed. Now we're really trying
to help her and her family stay in problem-solving mode. My concern is her being so far
away from family and support. And so my
recommendation would be that she relocate
closer by you guys so that she is again
part of your family. You can come in and check on
her and see how she's doing. I wanted to hear from
you about whether that is something that you think
would work for your family. It is absolutely crucial
that she has people in her life that love her and care
for her and accept her. Now is the time to bring up
my daughter, Maureen, came to me and said her and her husband
are moving to a big farm house. There is a large room
over a double garage. And they want to offer
it to you for the winter. Wow. She would immediately
have a place to live. Oh my gosh. For the winter. That would be wonderful. Thank you. It'll be nice to
have her nearby. And I won't be worrying
all the time about her. I can check in on her. Do you need it? Yeah, that's brand new. She's gonna be around family
and a new clean environment. Her health is going
to get better. She's going to get
some professional help. Geez, I can't name
how many blessings are going to be in her life. If I have observed
anything today, it's that the family
is right there for her. She sees the value of it. They see the value of it. And it's wonderful. Look, it's all throw away. It is. Thank you. OK. You got rid of
more than you kept. Good job. Hey, you're
doing great, Nancy. Thank you. This is the best
possible outcome. We couldn't save the house,
but we can save Nancy. She has a family that's
very willing to support her. I really think she
has the best chance to fully recover and manage
this disorder with this outcome. I think I'd like to
walk through the house one more time and kind
of say goodbye and think about the times
that I had that were good when I lived here. Goodbye, house. I'm so sorry that this
is you're ending up. I feel very sad about
having ruined my house. That was death. Goodbye, house. Now she has life. She's got hope.
