Home of Port Charlotte couple destroyed due to mold from Hurricane Ian

Reporter: Jolena Esperto Writer: Tim Belizaire
Published: Updated:

A Port Charlotte couple inherited a home after the wife’s parents died. The home is now destroyed because of mold from Hurricane Ian.

Susan Keefe and her husband, Ed Maldonado, were living their retirement dream when they got married at Keefe’s parents’ home in Port Charlotte Village.

“I’ve been visiting this park since I was 15, and we got married in this park, and we always knew we wanted to retire here,” said Keefe.

The house was passed down to the couple, and with it, a lifetime of memories and traditions.

Like so many other homes, it was damaged in Hurricane Ian.

The couple couldn’t afford an inspection until they got their insurance money, so they waited for two years after Hurricane Ian.

“I’ve been sick a lot,” said Keefe. “We both were diagnosed with heart problems. I’ve been diagnosed with an ulcer, and we’ve been sick with skin irritation and just breathing. We didn’t put two and two together until now.”

The CEO of Keefe’s and Maldanado’s insurance company, American Traditions, said the money took so long to get to them because they hired their own public adjuster and private attorney after their initial payment wasn’t enough to cover the damage.

When the home inspector came after they got the amount of money they said they needed, he ripped out the walls in the living room, kitchen and bedrooms and then stopped once they all realized their home wasn’t salvageable.

Now Keefe and Maldanado fear they can’t finish out their dream where they started it.

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