You can fall,
basically, at any time. I was getting headaches. It smells like something
died in the kitchen. This is garbage. Put them over here. I'm keeping them. Can't you just let it go? No.
No. Don't go throw something
like that in my face, and then ignore me. It's life or death. And I want my mom to live. He said, Grandma, can
we clean your house? I think the house is gross. Spiders, feces, dirt. She's got bad lighting. So I never really saw. I'm finding that
very hard to believe. One of these piles could
fall on him and kill him. Yes. [music playing] - These need to go.
- Yeah. I want to keep the books. They need to go. No, I-- I can't sort them right now. Hello? I don't want to
hear it anymore. Throw it away, and shut up. Vern, if you tell me
to shut up one more time, we're not going to
keep working, OK? We're not wasting
our time like this. I'm throwing this away. There's rat poop all over them.
- No. - Yes.
- No. - Yes.
- No. Yes. I just wanted to be
able to come home. This is [bleep] ridiculous. My name is Verna. Yes, I am a hoarder. My house has gone past the
point of being cluttered. My front yard is a mess. I'm Crow, Verna's brother. It's a family of
hoarders, actually. My parents bought land
and fixer-upper houses. We had eight houses
to equip, stock up, you know, with this and that. My mother taught us well. She worked really hard
at this, on teaching us how to be hoarders. We just followed
in her footsteps. My name is Rhona. And Verna's my mom. I think she's trying
to fill something. And I'm not quite
sure what it is. I can go in her house. And it's kind of maddening. There's nowhere to sit. There's mouse feces and
stinky stuff in her kitchen. I mean, I got-- I was getting headaches. I'm Kelizha. And Verna is my grandmother. Our house is kind of like a
maze thing, rat poop and stuff everywhere. It's really a bad smell, like
something died in the kitchen. When I watch her walk through
there, I get worried too. I've told her that if
she falls and gets hurt, she'll be in big trouble,
especially with her diabetes. She is crawling up a
ladder to a hole that was cut out in the ceiling. I have not been up there. My son's gone up there. But he's told me how bad it is. In the attic, you have
to hold onto a bookcase, and have about 1/2 foot of room. There's a wood plank
that you walk over it, and then you jump onto the bed. It's too much. I can't-- I don't know. I just can't go
up there and look. You can fall,
basically, at any time. One false footstep,
and that's it. It's no longer safe for me
to be climbing up that ladder to get to my bedroom. I was coming up the ladder,
and my leg gave away on me. And I had to hold
onto the ladder rungs to put myself up
the rest of the way. RHONDA: I had her put into
a convalescent hospital, because where she's
living is not safe. My mom is listed as a temporary
resident at the facility. In order for her to
be released home, somebody from social services
will have to come out to make sure that it's livable. I think she's finding
excuses for uses for every little thing. But I don't think
that she's actually going to have a use for
everything that she has there. Use what you find, and use
what you can find, and not throw anything away
if you don't have to. I'm a wanna-be artist. This is where I work. RHONDA: I can appreciate
everybody's individuality on what they like
to present as art. A bag of, you know,
bed chucks or wicker chairs that are falling
apart, that's not art to me. That's just stuff. My daughter has constantly
been on me to throw this away, and throw that away. To her, 75% to 80% of the
stuff in my yard is junk. I see the art in the
stuff she brings in. But enough's enough with
the junk that she brings in. Her hoarding did speed up
after she got out of prison. RHONDA: I think being in
prison devastated her. I don't know why it
made her collect more, and fill her house up more. I think that that was the worst
thing that could have happened to her. She just kind of-- she just
doesn't realize that it needs to stop. RHONDA: She can't live in
the house that she's in. It's life or death. And I want my mom to live. I don't want her
to die like that. I'm JoAnne. And I'm a retired autoworker. The hoarding has pretty
much taken over my life. It's like it has
more power than I do. I'm Elaine, JoAnne's
sister-in-law. I am very concerned. And I know it's not
a healthy situation. She has a narrow space
in the living room that goes to a chair. I eat in the chair. I relax in the chair. I sleep in the chair. It's like my whole
life is in the chair. I'm Ed. And JoAnne's my mom. My mom spends the majority
of her time shopping, and sitting in the
chair, watching TV. I figure if I stay home and
watch TV, I'm away from stores. I'm away from things
where it tempts me. But if you're only going to
sit in a chair morning, noon, and night, you actually
do not have a life. If my mom does not
clean up the house, I'm going to call adult
protective services on her. I would lose my home and
everything that I have. ED: Since she has no water,
she actually goes every week and buys new clothes. It's an incredible
waste of money. JoAnne is just not
thinking straight. ED: I asked her, how are you
going to the bathroom, Mom? I went to the bathroom,
and there was a bag. I put these plastic
shopping bags in the toilet. I double bag everything. And I spray it with Febreze. And I dispose of it. I'm Cayden. And JoAnne's my grandma. ED: My mom babysits my kid. Hi, Grandma. Hi, how are you? She's been babysitting
him ever since he was born. Throw it on up over here. My grandmama's house is messy. ED: When he was a baby,
she would just kind of put the stroller there, . And he'd be surrounded
with all this clutter. I think the house is gross. I guess we were desperate
in having no one to watch him. I'm Melissa. And JoAnne is my mother-in-law. Daycare is real expensive. It's about $200 a week. That's about half of our income. ED: And right now, we're
struggling financially as it is. It wasn't possible to
actually have daycare. MELISSA: My mother-in-law
would have my son sleeping in the chair with her. Eventually he grew up, and
didn't want to do it anymore. So he would sleep on the
dog bed on the floor. When I found out
about it, I was livid. My daughter-in-law
was very upset. So they stopped
him sleeping over. ED: As he got older,
he would just come out and say, Grandma, you
need to clean your house. And she would be
like, really, I do? And he's like, yeah, yeah,
I'll help you clean it. We can throw this away. He said, Grandma, can
we clean your house up? We tried to clean
up in the kitchen. JOANNE: We went
into the kitchen. And we filled a couple
of garbage bags. I tried to throw
those things out. Want to throw this away? JOANNE: Yeah, go ahead. My grandson was more encouraging
than my son was, because my son would put a criticism in there. The first time we
tried to clean out, she didn't want to get
rid of anything. She had a little Danish
incident with my husband. ED: There was a
14-year-old Danish. I would throw it in a bag. She would say, no,
no, no, keep this. I was like, Ma, it's from 1998. JOANNE: They did
a very good job. And I turned around, and
filled the space up again. ED: I felt like banging
my head up against a wall. It didn't matter how many times
I actually went over her house to clean, she was just going
to do it over and over, and over again. JOANNE: I feel guilty
because I let them down. ED: I finally came
to the conclusion that she needed some
major, major help. It breaks my heart to see
her live in the conditions that she's living in. Where she's
living is not safe. Her home's not livable. Hey. You must be Verna. Yes, I am. Mark Pfeffer. My name is Mark Pfeffer. I'm a licensed psychotherapist
and specialist in the treatment of compulsive hoarding. OK, come along. Currently, Verna is
living in a care facility because her home is too
dangerous for her to live. Wow. Right. So I can see why they
decided that this is not the place for you. That house is a
danger trap for Verna. Watch out. I'm smelling kind of-- I think it's mouse. There was a unique smell
in Verna's kitchen. Kind of like a mold. OK. OK. I decided to go
see Verna's bedroom. Well, let's see where
you, uh-- where you sleep. I'm not going up the stairs. The stairs is really a
rickety ladder that's slippery. Verna was unable to escort
me up to her sleeping area. So I decided to climb
the ladder on my own. Right. You do this every night, Verna? Yes. It's quite an
adventure for some sleep. Climbing up that ladder
made me very anxious. I see the hole in
the floor here. VERNA: OK. Once you get up here, how
do you get into the bed? At the top of the
ladder, I pull myself up until I'm standing
on a flat area. And then with my
hands on the dresser, I walk on that little area,
and then I step across. MARK PFEFFER: I was shocked to
see someone who's 67 years old, who can barely get
around, be forced to live in that kind of situation. Verna is just one accident away
from being severely injured in that home. My name's Cory Chalmers. And I specialize in bio-hazard
and hoarding cleanup. Before we get started today, I'd
like the family to come inside. I think it's very
important that they see how Verna has been living. It's going to be kind of
tight through right here. It was a difficult walk through. Because as soon as I
walked in the front door, she started yelling at me
for stepping on her books. VERNA: You stepped on something. How can I not step
on something, Verna? Watch your feet. CORY CHALMERS: This is the
environment you created. No, I didn't.
The floor was clear. Look at all the
stuff in here, Verna. Knock it off! Use your eyes. Watch where you put your feet. You got it. I tried to point out the
dangers in her kitchen, and that is a lot of spoiled
food and dead rodents. Have you seen your
left foot right now? VERNA: I know there's rat
[bleep] on the [bleep] floor. CORY CHALMERS: No,
that's a mouse. I wanted Rhonda to
go up the ladder. I wanted her to see how
her mother's been living. That is extreme. I've never seen someone
living inside of their attic. It's scary.
It's dark. It's a death trap. It doesn't get much more extreme
than that, except homeless. I would like Rhonda
to see upstairs. RHONDA: I don't go up there. Rhonda doesn't go upstairs. I think it's
important that you see where she's been living. I just don't want to see
anywhere you've been sleeping. It makes me feel
like a bad daughter. But I had a bed to sleep in-- CORY CHALMERS: I know.
VERNA: --half a bed. CORY CHALMERS:
It's not pleasant-- VERNA: Go around me.
Go around him. --but I want
you to see it, OK? OK, let's go. CORY CHALMERS: Go look. Because right now, I can't
imagine you climbing up there. Oh, my god. Do what? He's-- he's orange. This guy's orange, and
this guy-- my grandma never cleans up. She likes to keep everything
because she thinks she needs that stuff. I tried to throw
those things out. [knocking] ROBIN ZASIO: JoAnne? Yes. Hi, Dr. Zasio. Hi.
- How are you? It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. My name is Dr. Robin Zasio. I'm a licensed
clinical psychologist, and I specialize in
compulsive hoarding and OCD. Just walking into the living
room and kitchen alone, was disturbing, knowing
that her grandson goes into that kitchen. When your grandson comes over,
what does he think about this? He thinks he needs
to help me clean it. Sometimes he encourages me. It makes him happy. It makes him happy to
be cleaning up your home? To help. yeah, to help me. And how old is he? He's six. It's really ironic that a
six-year-old has taken upon himself to help his
grandmother clean. Do you think that that's
normal grandmother, grandson-- No. ROBIN ZASIO: --activity
to do together? No, I do not. I'm very concerned,
psychologically, the impact that this
environment is going to have on him in the future. Do you have running water? No OK. The plumbing has been damaged. She doesn't have any
money to repair it. So this bathroom is
clearly not usable? No, it's not. The toilet doesn't work. And how are you
using the toilet? I use plastic shopping bags. And then I-- When I lifted up
the toilet seat, I was shocked to see that there
was a plastic bag in there. This has got to be
very, very embarrassing and humiliating for her. So this is your bedroom? Yes. And where is your bed? Right here is the bed. ROBIN ZASIO: It looks more like
the cat has been living there, going to the bathroom there. JOANNE: Yes. I'm also seeing
children's clothing in here. I'm seeing matchbox
cars, which means-- JOANNE: Yes, he's been in here. ROBIN ZASIO: JoAnne's
judgment is clearly impaired. And the fact that she continues
to bring in her grandson, is very concerning. We've got spiders. We've got feces. We've got dirt. It's just not safe. I agree. And one of these piles
could fall on him at any time, and kill him. Yes. ROBIN ZASIO: Because
of her poor judgment, because of the lack
of running water, inability to properly
prepare food, to safely walk around the house,
if JoAnne does not work with us to get her home
de-cluttered, I will be forced to call Child
Protective Services and Adult Protective Services. RHONDA: I can't believe this. I can't believe this. It's no way for someone to
live like that, especially in the condition she's in. It was pretty bad. Oh, my god. I think it hit
the point, you know, where she realizes her mother is
gravely ill with this disorder. And the clutter, and
the living conditions has literally forced her
up into her attic to live. It's really bad up there. I-- you know, I know it is. I would be afraid
to sleep up there. That's rotten. CORY CHALMERS: We're
just clearing the path to the front door right now,
so we can even get in there and carry things in and out. She is keeping stuff that is
just literally falling apart. VERNA: It stays. It stays! Set it up here so I can-- RHONDA: Oh, that's all moldy. You can't clean that. Put that back in the yard. That stays. Her world is literally
being torn apart. The environment she's
created around herself is literally being ripped apart. And it's really hard for her. Keep it. Don't argue with me.
Keep it. I'll throw it away later. I have a problem with this. I have a problem with
you going through my stuff. I don't care.
VERNA: Put it back over there. This is garbage. Put it back over there. RHONDA: Rusted food. Put them over here. I'm keeping them. Give me everything back here. Thank you, sir. VERNA: Put that
back in the yard. That stays. She's just throwing
a temper tantrum. Is this stuff more
important than coming home? It's important right now. So don't-- don't--
don't go there with me. She just doesn't want to
talk about it, you know? She's done talking. She's shutting down. Remember, come home,
or don't come home. Do you need it? Will you use it? What's your final
decision on this? I don't even want to
talk to you anymore. Can you put it back over here? OK, well I'm going to
leave this right here then. OK. RHONDA: I think that she just
doesn't want to let go of stuff that she thinks she can use. And she's not really
thinking about that she still has stuff in the house. These need to go. They need to go. I want to them. Sort them right now
whilst you're sitting here. You need to sort them now,
or they're going to go. This is expired six years ago. Go ahead and toss them.
Just go ahead and toss them. OK, but are you doing
it to make it easier, or are you doing it because-- I'm doing it because I
want you guys to shut up. What about these? VERNA: Those stay! [interposing voices] I haven't even
said nothing yet. Don't yell at me. We're trying to change
the way you think. You see the lawn? Are you ignoring me?
Are you shutting me out? Yes. I'm here to save your
house, and get you back home. Right. Hello? RHONDA: Hello? Go ahead. RHONDA: Hello? I don't want to
hear it anymore. Throw it away and shut up. Verna, if you tell me
to shut up one more time, we're not going to keep working. We've gone 10 feet
into your yard. Where is all this going to go
when it builds and it takes the entire street? Where are we going
to put it back? In your front yard again? Sure. Then what have
we accomplished? RHONDA: No. We haven't gotten
into her house yet. So all the stuff you see
in this pile behind me, is just from the entry
to her front door. And this is all keep. So it has to go
back in the yard. Let's start going through. No, point out
something we can take. How about that? - Can't you just--
- No! --let it go? No! So you cannot come home
until your house is clean. - I don't plan on coming home.
- When is that going to sink in? Protective services will
not release you from that home until they inspect a
home that you move into. That's fine. You guys get in my
face and yelling. You try useless sets
that don't work. CORY CHALMERS: No one--
no one's yelling at you. That's what you're doing. I'm here to help you
get your house clean. You're being stupid,
ignorant, looking down on me, condescending me like
I'm a dumb [bleep].. JOANNE: I did not have the
courage to get up, and do this cleaning, or I just
felt I was defeated. Good morning, everybody. ALL: Good morning. My name is Geralin Thomas. I'm a certified
professional organizer, specializing in chronic
disorganization and hoarding. Tell me, real quickly, how
you would like your family to be involved. Stay outside. GERALIN THOMAS: Stay outside? OK. No, I'm kidding. OK. The thing that strikes me
is what a difference there is in JoAnne's personality
and her surroundings. She's vibrant,
sparkly, and just seems to have a lot of
joy in her life. I think with no further
chitchat, let's get started. Are you ready? Ready. Open up, JoAnne. You were bringing your son
here for her to watch him. Yes, I was. Tell me what goes
through a mom's mind. I didn't really have the
resources to have child care. She was like a last resort. ROBIN ZASIO: It's kind of not
very safe in there, is it? Yeah, like, if the house
goes on fire, no can get out. That's right. It's been really
concerning to me that this family has continued
to allow Cayden to come into the house. I'm hearing a lot of
different stories. They're backing out, saying, oh,
we didn't know it's that bad. And I'm finding that very,
very hard to believe. She's got bad
lighting in her house. So I never really saw
all of this stuff. OK. It's really strange to me that
Melissa is using the lighting as an excuse. She has like one lamp. And that's the only lamp
that works in her house. Something that Melissa
said really kind of caught my attention. And that's the lighting comment. Are you buying that, or does
it sound like an excuse to you? It does sound like a
little bit of an excuse. We both know that our son
should not have been here in this situation. You know that you
can't go in the house because it's not safe? Yeah. And we don't want
anything to happen to you. I'm hoping that everybody
will raise their standards, and ensure that this child is
always in a safe environment. If you were removed
from the home, or told you could never have
your grandchildren in here again, that would
feel like what to you? That would literally kill me. I don't think I
could handle that. I do not. ignorant, looking down on me, e bein, condescending me like
I'm a dumb [bleep].. Why would you even go there?
RHONDA: Oh, no, come on. You know what? I'm dealing with your clutter,
and your control issue over your clutter-- I'll keep that box. --and your poor
decision making, OK? So don't go and throw
something like that in my face, and then ignore me. This is probably the
first time in her life that anyone has ever stood
up to her in this way. CORY CHALMERS: Well,
we gotta move fast. OK, the first plan is clean
all this from the doorways. Hey, Rhonda, look down there. Well, we're about 2
feet in the front door, and we've already
found the first rodent. Oh, there's little baby. RHONDA: Oh, another one. That one's not that old. RHONDA: Oh, no. So this is obviously the nest. They want you to see this. - I know it's there.
- The fact that's in your house. I know it's there. Verna, this might be
the wrong time to ask, but I need to know
where you want us to put the stuff in the front yard. Because the front
yard is full again. We can't.
That's what I'm saying. The front yard is full. Put it in the front of it,
or put it in the back of it. There is no front or back. Everything she wants
to keep, or move into the front yard, the area
that we cleaned out yesterday. And then her plan is throw a
tarp over it, call it good. There's a cover with mouse-- I'm throwing this away. There's rat poop all over them. No! Everything just
came to a head. I've been expecting
it for a while. Then some of this
other stuff is going. - Rhonda, no!
- Yes. - No.
- Yes. No. - Yes.
- Rhonda's had enough. I'm pissed. I'm [bleep] so mad right now. I can't believe her. If I walk away, I'm just
going to have to come back again, and clean it up later. This is about my daughter. She's the one that wants
this whole thing done. I just wanted to
be able to come home. This is ridiculous. She wants to see me safe. Get a dropdown ladder
to put in the attic, so I can pull it
down and walk up it. That would make me safe. I don't even know what to do. I want to just throw
it all away right now. You might just have to let her
live this way, and walk away. You're not going to fix her. This is a family of hoarders. MARK PFEFFER: The
resolution is for Rhonda to let natural consequences
happen for her mom, whatever that is. You no longer have
to feel guilty. You paid your dues
these last few days. Move on with your life. Verna, you want to-- just for a second-- be
in the conversation? Your daughter feels
like she's stuck. I'm ready to take
all these boxes and put them into the garbage. You need to make
it about you, Rhonda. I don't want to have
to deal with this. It's all about excuses. She doesn't want to
have to deal with this. Rhonda was talking to her
mom about 10 boxes of yarn. But her mom is refusing
to let enough stuff go. And she's piling it everywhere. It's not worth
it, I think perhaps, to ruin the relationship
over 10 boxes of yarn. I will do my best not
to ever call you again. It's not about a box,
or five boxes, of yarn. It's about control. And both of them are
trying to desperately win. Is it worth to lose
the relationship for 10 boxes of yarn? Yes. It is? Yes. Yes, I have my priorities, and
I have my choices of things. She's just being mean. I hear it all the time. You're saying that in
front of all these people. But I'm all you have. That's it, me. You keep saying that you want
to help your grandma, right? And you want a job to do? Yeah. Well, why don't you
help your grandmother by opening these bags, and
asking her what can stay, and what she can give away? OK, what about this? You can get give that away. Actually, that's broken. I was pulling stuff up, and
was saying, is keeping it, no or yes. But she's saying no, no, no. JOANNE: You can toss that too. She didn't want
to keep anything. It seems like
you're not attached to any of this, JoAnne. No, I told you. I've given up. I'm ready to just let go. I made a promise to myself
that if I started this, I would finish it. And I also owe it to my family. To the junk guys, OK? Thank you. I-- I want her to
have her life back. Have you told
her that, Melissa? That you care about her? I have. But I don't think
she believes me. When was the last
time you told her that you cared about her? It's been a while. Like I said, it's just
been really rough with her. I think the house is a big part
of our communication problems. ROBIN ZASIO: Well, I think
we should talk about it. I think we should deal with it. MELISSA: You never
really liked me at first. And I still feel that way. Melissa, you need to do right
by your husband, and you don't. I do think it's condescending
that JoAnne tells me that I could be better, when
I feel the same way about her. I gave up
everything in my life, anything that I had
set aside for myself. I have nothing, absolutely
nothing to back up on-- MELISSA: I never-- --because of mistakes
that Melissa made. I never asked
you to bail me out. Melissa's had trouble with
money, spending too much, not paying attention
to the bank account. She feels that she spent
all her money bailing me out, when in reality, she
spent a lot of her money hoarding her house. It drives me crazy that
I'm caught between two people that I love the most. One's a shopaholic,
and the other one's a hoarder and a shopaholic. This hoard has kept this
family from connecting. JoAnne and Melissa
have used the hoarding as a way to distract against
dealing with their issues. [dial tone] Hey, what are you doing? I'm at the house. Rhonda's back
here on day three. You know, at the end
of day two yesterday, her mom basically gave up. And I was thinking, if you
wanted, I could come get you. We have to get this
house cleaned today so Verna can come home. The fact that Verna isn't
here, it's not usually the way we do business. She gave up today
because she didn't want to deal with it anymore. She knows you're here doing it. I was somewhat disappointed
she wasn't here today. Her absence-- I didn't want
her to be checking out. And then her last memory of
being here, of just not being able to deal with it. So the plan is, Rhonda's going
to take over the cleaning today with us. We're going to get as
much done as we can. And Verna's going
to stay at home. We're going to
really clean the house and get that bedroom
ready for her. This is the only
way we're going to get this done to let her
come back home to a safe house. Pass this big bookshelf down. All right.
We're down here. Hold on. CORY CHALMERS: By
the end of the day, I really want to get
this bedroom done. Verna has been living
in her attic, you know? If we can give her a comfortable
bedroom in the main part of the house where she's not
climbing up and down a ladder. You know, that
would make me happy. All right, whoa. CORY CHALMERS: She's happy. Look at how
clean the stove is. Oh, that's nice. That is very nice. That's a big reaction for her. Cool, how nice. Very nice. This is really nice. You got your
succulents over there. Yeah. RHONDA: And your bookshelf. A lot of your artwork in here. It's nice. RHONDA: That's yours. CORY CHALMERS: I
think she's really going to enjoy this new room. And for the first time, I
truly think she's happy. Our hope is in doing
this is that perhaps you'll see the possibilities
for the rest of the place from this room. CORY CHALMERS: Are you going
to go back to filling it up? No. Yay. No, I'm not going
to fill it back up. RHONDA: Woo-hoo. After this process, Verna has
an idea that her family will not tolerate her keeping a
home as it is, for her safety, and because they really want
to have some access to her. RHONDA: It's amazing. I didn't think it was going to
look as nice as it turned out. I think she can move back in. It's safe. It's safe for her there. Are you sure you
want to keep that? Yeah, I was thinking of
going out and buying one. But I didn't know I had that. OK. Ed is fearful that
his mother is still clinging to her old ways. Are you worried that it's going
to start accumulating again? Yeah, yeah,
definitely, definitely. OK, so this is really normal. And by the amount of
stuff that she has let go, I feel really confident that
your mom is turning the corner with this. She's let go of plenty of stuff. She now has lots of room
in her home for things that she really wants to keep. And one of the things that
both of you guys do really, really well, is you guys
really do say things in a very respectful, loving way. So carry on. You're doing a great job. Three days ago I stepped into
your house for the first time. It was not safe, not safe for
Cayden, and not safe for you. At this point,
the house is safe. But you need to see
it for yourself. Are you ready? Yes, I am. ROBIN ZASIO: OK, let's go. Here we go, Cayden. Come on in.
JOANNE: All of us? Yes. Wow, where are you going? Get over here. Come on over here. Well, JoAnne, you
really got involved. And you told me that
you were motivated to change the way you
think, the way you live, and the way you keep things. We hauled away 17 dump
trucks full of trash, and two trucks
full of donations. ED: The fact that she saw the
threat of her grandchildren not be able to come
over to the house, has given her that insight to be
able to see some of the things that need to get done. Do you think it's now safe
to bring Cayden over here? - Yes, it is.
- Oh, yeah, definitely. Cayden, do you want to go
see the rest of the house? - Yes.
- Go to it. ROBIN ZASIO: I can't be
more pleased with JoAnne and how she worked this process. She was open. She was ready. I think she's going
to work to restore the relationship with her
son, maybe even with Melissa. We have a lot of work to do
on our relationship together, like me and her,
and her and her son. We just all need to come
together as a family. I don't know if we'll
become closer or what. It all depends on
how Melissa thinks. My grandson has tons of space
where he can run around. Today is the luckiest
day of my life. I have never had so many
people care so much. JoAnne is the dream client. I feel like she
reached out for help. She's motivated. It's not cured. But I do think JoAnne is going
to learn to manage hoarding. Get back up on the bed. See how comfortable it is. I'm so excited to have my
grandson come into my home, stay overnight, and just
have a good time together. My grandma is the best
grandma in the world. JOANNE: And I need to quit
being a person that just sits in a chair, instead, go out and
meet people, or do something. This is a rare case
where someone has fully embraced the treatment. She wasn't defensive. And she trusted the process. This bed is better than
sleeping on the floor. I can't wait for
Grandma to babysit me.
