Living with Bad Water:

And This Is Happening in America?

Amy Blankenship, 14-years-old, and her mom, Donetta, of Rawl, WV, explained how they finally realized something might be wrong with their water:

Donetta: I have never had any health problems until I moved here. I started having different symptoms that led up to it about two months before I went to the hospital.

Amy: My mom had yellow eyes. Her face was yellow. I told dad that mom needed to go to the hospital.

Donetta: I said, yall are color blind. I called Steve, the pharmacist at CVS, and he said something might be wrong with my liver.

Junior and Amy wouldnt let me wait. They made me go straight to the hospital, and I found out at 1 in the morning that they were going to admit me. My liver enzymes were in the thousands. The doctor said they shouldnt have been over a hundred. He sent me to University of Kentucky to have a biopsy.

Amy: I was crying when the doctor said her liver was failing.

Donetta: My enzymes have been going up and down up and down.

Amy: Its like a rollercoaster. Im afraid she might die. All I wanted for Christmas was for Mom to live longer.

Donetta: I think the water has something to do with it because people know that I dont do alcohol or drugs. It isnt hereditary and things that could cause it I havent had anything to do with.

Amy: The water stinks and everybody gets sick. Im getting sick with stomach problems and my breathing is getting worse.

Donetta: Here Ive been cooking with the water and drinking it not knowing what was in it. We have to wash our clothes with it and when we take baths it gets into our bodies.