Charlotte woman with stage 4 cancer told to leave mold infested apartment

CHARLOTTE, NC — Cynthia Lidge doesn’t have full function in her right hand and she now speaks with a stutter. Lidge says she suffered 5 or 6 strokes in the last two months.

“I didn’t even know if it was strokes. At the time, I didn’t know what it was,” explained Lidge.

Around the same time she says she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.

“I didn’t do anything. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask to be sick. Now I’m being evicted for something I have no control over.

Lidge was informed last week by an attorney hired by Dawson Property Management that an inspection found black mold in her apartment. She had one week to vacate.

“I think they could have added more investigation to try to solve the problem instead of throwing me out,” said Lidge.

In the letter, it says Dawson Property Management was first alerted to a mold issue on June 17th. Lidge says that’s not true. She showed us this maintenance request from October saying there was a mildew smell and there was some type of dust covering their clothes and furniture. Her request was marked as completed nearly a week later, even though Lidge says no one ever responded.

Lidge believes the property management company should have offered her a new place to stay or money to move and find short term housing while the mold was cleared from the apartment.

Instead, she’s forced to live at her sister’s home while she and her 11-year-old son find a new place. All while she recovers from her strokes and cancer treatment.

“They didn’t compensate me for anything. Offer me anything. I’m just sold to get out,” Lidge said.

Lidge says she is considering taking legal action.

We reached out to Dawson Property Management for comment. We have not heard back.