Selling House to Pay for Medical Bills Leads to Pillow Talk

April 11, 2012 - PRLog -- In 1993 Mary Anderle had the perfect life.  A successful interior designer and newly married to Gary, an engineer, they had just purchased a piece of land to build their dream home on in Northern Wisconson.   But disaster was lurking.  In a few short years, the Anderles would be overwhelmed by medical bills that the insurance company they trusted would refuse to cover.   Their dream home would remain just that – a dream while they dealt with a nightmare illness.

It was the summer of 1997.  The Anderles were attending their usual Sunday church service.   Mary whispered something to Gary but he did not hear her.  She did not think anything of it but at the urging of a friend, they consulted their doctor.

Neither one expected that the life they had so happily built together was about to come crashing down around them.  

Gary was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor that had wrapped itself around various nerves.  If left untreated, it would kill him.    Within 10 days, the tumor was ‘successfully’ removed but Gary was left with among other issues, hearing and sight loss, facial paralysis and personality changes.

Medical bills rose quickly to six figures.  The Anderles had to cover 20% of the bills plus whatever additional expenses their insurance company deemed were ‘not necessary’.

Gary was unable to work for the next six months and then only part-time following that.  In addition, he could not drive nor could he be left alone.

Mary, who had spent 15 years building up her career, found herself planning her schedule around driving Gary back and forth to work, doctors and therapy.  

In 1999, an MRI presented an ominous situation.  An appointment was set up for the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in January 2000.

Then the bombshell arrived from their insurance company.  The Anderles coverage was being lowered and their out-of-pocket expenses increased.  Worse than that, out-of-state healthcare would not be covered – meaning any Mayo Clinic expenses would be the sole responsibility of the Anderles.

“Suddenly, our life changed.  Our medical insurance would not cover all the bills.  The hospital refused to operate a second time without insurance.  I sat down and cried.  You never think it will happen to you, but when it does, it is devastating.”  Within minutes, Mary’s resilience won.  “I realized the only option we had was to sell the house, but really it wasn’t an option.  It was either keep the house and lose Gary or sell it to try to save him.  There was never any question in my mind.”  

Mary immediately contacted the mortgage company who worked out a plan using over-payments the Anderles had been making to allow them time to get things settled and perhaps keep their house.

But by 2001, medical bills for life-saving treatment had used up their retirement money, their two years of savings and sadly, their kids college funds.  In 2002, the house was put up for sale.   In addition, Gary was fired from his job.  As members of his industry knew his health history, nobody would hire him.  The only hope for him to work again was to move to a different state.

The Anderles moved west and in with her parents.  Mary had to let go of her old clients and start over.  The house did not sell in time and they were forced to declare medical bankruptcy.

Over the next few years, they experienced alternating hope and devastation.

However, out of despair something positive would come.  In 2008, with the recession, Mary’s new business plunged and she lost her design contracts.  With so many people in the business and design industry suffering, Mary began holding a monthly ‘green seminar’ as a way to bring a new element to their work.

The very last seminar of the series would prove to be life-altering.  A fireman had signed up as a guest. He stood up and passionately spoke about the dangers of the synthetic materials interior designers were selling to clients – how the daily toxins and worse the fumes that the materials emit when they catch fire kill people faster than flames do.  When he spoke of foam mattresses and pillows, Mary was captivated.

Searching for a pillow that was non-toxic as well as hypo-allergenic, Mary found natural pillow fills like wool and feathers that were great for the non-toxicity properties, but horrible for allergy sufferers.  She continued to search for materials and after reading the properties of alpaca, Mary was hooked.  She began making pillows out of alpaca using 100% organic covering and Malpaca was formed.

Around this time, Gary was officially deemed disabled and unable to work, fuelling Mary’s determination even further.

In 2010, the Anderles moved to Colorado to be near the children where Mary now runs Malpaca full-time.

“We have had some tough years,” she states matter of factly, “and I’ve really learned to appreciate what good health means.  Starting Malpaca and getting feedback from people whose health problems with allergies are alleviated and knowing that I am providing an alternative to potential toxins really makes me feel good.  Yes, we lost the house and everything we had saved, but we still have Gary and out of all this, I am really able to offer something that will benefit the health of people and help them.  What more could I ask for?”

For more information on Malpaca, please visit www.malpaca.com

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