From Basement Floods to Medical Breathroughs…

From Basement Floods to Medical Breakthroughs: Why I’ll Never Stop Fighting for You

I have a confession to make.
This journey—my passion, my mission, my obsession with helping people heal from mold and chronic illness—it’s not just professional. It’s deeply personal.

Let me take you back to where it all began.

I grew up in Western Springs, IL, in a charming childhood home that came with an unwanted guest: a basement that turned into a swimming pool with every big rain. My parents—and sometimes even my nana—would grab the Shop-Vac and squeegees, working tirelessly late into the night to push the water out. A few times a year, like clockwork. At the time, it just felt like a nuisance. We didn’t know that those floods were seeding something far more sinister into the walls—and into my health.

Middle school was when I first noticed something was off. I couldn't run the mile under 10 minutes anymore. Not because I was out of shape, but because I couldn’t catch my breath. I was diagnosed with allergies and exercise-induced asthma. And that was just the beginning.

From there, the diagnoses piled up like water in the basement.

• Menorrhagia

• Early menarche—at 6 years old

• Chronic daily headaches starting at age 7

• Nightly vomiting and intense growing pains

• Fatigue that began whispering in high school and never shut up again

I didn’t have a name for it yet, but mold had taken hold of me.

My first real wake-up call may have been at summer camp in Eagle River, Wisconsin. I had the time of my life, but I also earned some strange “awards”: most mosquito bites (even in unexposed places), biggest welts, worst allergic reactions. Maybe that was when the chronic pain truly began. It’s hard to untangle the timeline after all these years—but I remember feeling off.

In high school and college, things continued to shift. Despite doing well academically, I noticed I couldn’t focus. In hindsight, it was undiagnosed ADD. My weight fluctuated, stubbornly resisting any effort to lose it. I felt like I was always running on empty.

Medical school gave me a sense of purpose—and a heavy dose of survival mode. I finally lost weight, but only through starvation and stimulant meds. The pain, fatigue, and headaches never left. Sleep became a luxury I couldn’t afford. I was in fight-or-flight 24/7, running from a tiger that no one else could see. And I was good at it—functioning just well enough to keep pushing.

Residency was brutal. The hardest three years of my life. I worked 24-hour shifts, ran codes, caught babies, and carried the weight of responsibility and perfectionism on my shoulders. I moved back into my childhood home—still moldy, still leaking—because it was only a mile from the hospital. Easy to get to when you're too tired to think straight.

Eventually, I became an attending. My schedule was more manageable—but my ambition didn’t slow down. I kept adding more: a wound care center, 26 clinics, urgent care shifts. I was successful on paper, but I was crumbling inside.

The pain was still there. The fatigue was worse. The brain fog was real.
I was pushing through, barely.

Then came my mom’s health crash—breast cancer, autoimmune diseases, allergic reactions to over 130 medications, lupus. Watching her decline made me realize there had to be another way. That’s when I found acupuncture. And then functional medicine. That’s when Pandora’s box opened—and I could never unsee what I had learned.

I left conventional medicine. Sold my house. Moved in with my then-boyfriend. Waited for an interview with a big-name functional medicine doc. While waiting, I picked up a book by Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker called Surviving Mold. And everything changed.

I devoured the book. Started my first mold binder.
And within three days, the headaches I’d had daily for 28 years… were gone.

I wept. I rejoiced. I knew—this was it.
This was the thing that had been stealing my life in the shadows.

I trained with Dr. Shoemaker, eventually becoming one of only 25 certified mold-literate physicians in the world. I joined another hospital system to build their functional medicine department—and even though I was healing, mold found me again.

I gained 65 pounds in 2 months.
I was training for an Ironman, in the best shape of my life… and I could barely walk up the stairs.
I was living in another moldy apartment.

I was so sick I couldn’t plan my escape. I couldn’t think clearly enough to move.
I was surviving—barely.

When that hospital system asked me to go back to a 15-minute visit model, I knew it was time.
I took the leap. I opened my own practice.

Terrified. Exhausted. Mold sick.
I started small. Moved into a chiro’s office (which was moldy, too). Moved back into my childhood home. (Still moldy.)

But I grew. Slowly, at the pace my broken body could handle.
My best friend helped run the front desk virtually.
And I started to rebuild.

Eventually, I met my husband. Moved into a better space.
My brain fog began to lift.
And then… we found our healing center.

A property with low mold counts, a home next door, and room to heal—for me and for you.

This center isn’t just a clinic.
It’s the culmination of a journey that nearly broke me.
It’s the place where I became the doctor I was always meant to be.
It’s where I learned that I’m not just a healer.
I’m a mold-fighting superhero.

I’ve had to:

• Start over from scratch.

• Throw away everything I owned.

• Sell properties because they weren’t safe.

• Sleep on couches, cry in secret, and still show up to serve.

• Be both the doctor and the patient—at the same time.

Every protocol I’ve created came from personal experience.
Every hack I’ve tried, every tool I’ve added, every test I’ve run—I’ve lived it.

And I will never stop pushing the envelope.

Not until mold illness is understood.
Not until the legal system changes.
Not until people stop dying because mold is dismissed as “just an allergy.”

That’s why I now serve as an expert witness—for my warriors, for justice, for change.

I see myself in every patient who walks through my door.
I know the hopelessness. I know the fear. I know the courage it takes to fight anyway.

You are not alone.

And I promise you this:

I will keep innovating.
I will keep learning.
I will keep showing up—for you, for all of us.

Because this is personal.
And because every day, I wake up knowing that this is why I’m here.

Thank you for walking this journey with me.
We are just getting started.

With all my love and fire,
Dr. Lyday
Your Mold-Fighting Superhero 🦸‍♀️