Inside a hoarders home; what you may not know

Trish Kozicka, Global News Wednesday, September 26, 2012 4:15 PM

EDMONTON - Loads of garbage, empty bottles, containers filled with old food, and millions of mouse droppings - that's how one 73 year-old Edmonton woman has been living for years, until recently. It's also the reality of many other hoarders, of whom there may be more than you think.

"I would say that, on a block, you can for sure find a hoarder. There's millions of them really, you just wouldn't know," says Tracey Fraser of the Helping Hands Personal Assistance organization, which works with seniors and hoarders.

Fraser and her team have been asked to come help clean up the home of this particular hoarder. She says this home is not even the worst she's seen.

The senior's daughter gave Global News a tour of the home, which you can see below:

"It's probably about in the middle, a medium, because of the squalor. So she lives in filth. She lives in food, and mouse feces - so that brings in a different aspect," Fraser adds, explaining that there are also 'clean' hoarders, who become obsessively collect things like books or newspapers.

Pam says she's known for a long time that her mother has lived like this. While hoarding is a condition the senior seems to have had for awhile, her daughter believes it just progressively got worse.

"I was very mad for her. She's a smart lady, she's loving, she's caring, she's got lots of friends. I cannot believe that she let herself get to this," Pam says. "I told my friends, my family, that 'We are going to find my mom on the floor and she's either going to be dead or close to it.’ And sure enough that's what happened."

Back in June, her mother had a heart attack and for two days, she laid in the filth on the floor, unable to reach her phone, before she was found.

She's been in the hospital ever since, in large part because of her daughter's insistence.

"I've just fought to say that 'No she cannot come home," says Pam. "This is what her home is like, and this is what's killing her."

Her mother will be moving into an assisted living facility when she's out of the hospital. Her home, meanwhile, is supposed to be cleaned by the end of the week - thanks to Helping Hands.

"There's a lot of this (support) out there, and you're not alone. There are people out there that can help you clean up," Pam says. "Don't be embarrassed, for one...you have to go beyond that, otherwise you won't get anything done."

"Yes, you have to hire the help and there is a cost, but you know what, it is worth every penny."

For those who still don't want to ask for help, Fraser has some tips.

"Start with what's in front of you. If you see a box in front of you, pick it up and decide what you want to do with it."

Hoarding is classified as an anxiety and panic disorder by the Canadian Mental Health Association, but will be named an official mental disorder in the newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For more information on the condition, as well as where to get help, click here.