(intense music)
- We're all overwhelmed by the condition of our house.
- [Dean] Everything, it's just buried in there.
- This is a miracle that no one has died in this hoard.
I'm feeling uncomfortable.
- We're backlogged, and she hasn't even made a dent.
Nothing seems to be working.
- It's not what I agreed to.
- Half of a brick. - Well, it should go
on our brick pile outside.
- You wanna keep a broken brick?
- Yes.
- Putting my foot down.
- She has to be pushed to that breaking point.
- Please stop.
- [Cory] Mom is wanting to keep some of the food
that's in that freezer. It's mind boggling.
- It's going.
- She flat out told him,
"if the stuff is going, then so am I."
We can't have Lia leaving.
- I need out. (sobs)
(theme music)
(tense music)
- [Lia] Hang on a minute.
- Okay.
- Huh?
- It's all right.
I'm Lia. I've been married to my husband, Ken, for 54 years.
We have three grown sons,
and we're all just overwhelmed
by the condition of our house.
(intense music)
You come through the front door, that's our entrance hall.
Off to the right is a breakfast room,
but it's stacked up, obliterating the doorway.
We can't get in and use it.
Turn to the left, and we walk through
about half of the living room and then make
a sharp right again over into the dining room,
which heads into the kitchen.
And off of the kitchen, there's a hallway
that leads to the two bedrooms
and the bathroom at the back end of the hall.
- I'm Ken, and I'm Lia's husband.
(intense music)
On the left and the right are just piles and piles and piles
stacked up six to seven feet tall of all kinds of stuff
that Lia has purchased and piled.
Some of it's usable stuff, and some is junk.
- I'm Dean. I'm Lia's oldest son.
Knowing where everything...
You could say "is," but you could also say "was,"
'cause you just can't see it.
It's not there anymore, but you know it is there,
like the dining room table. It's buried in there.
All the couches, everything is just all buried.
It is just nuts.
- You cannot get up the stairs
to go upstairs to the attic area. It's impossible.
Barring the bathroom where you can obviously sit down,
there's only two places in the house
that I can actually sit and do anything with.
Our bed, and that chair that I've got
in front of my computer.
Otherwise, you're walking through the house,
you can't sit down anywhere.
(tense music)
- When I get tired of cleaning up
or straightening or sorting, I just sit on the bed.
One of the things I've collected a lot of is yarn.
So I've started making napkins,
which takes up quite a bit of yarn.
Then I watch TV while I'm doing my yarn crafts.
Amongst the things that I like to collect
besides just the craft items is Doxin items,
almost anything red, white, and blue.
Just part of my upbringing to be
proud of your country and respect it.
It's mostly just stuff that I thought I would make use of
and then didn't have an immediate use,
so they got put in a pile, and then eventually,
something else got put on top of it.
Then I forgot about having what was underneath,
and I couldn't get to it.
So lots of times, then I bought some more.
- I am Craig. I'm Lia's middle son.
That house is like a great, big Swiss army knife.
For her, having something and not needing it
I think may be more comfortable for her
than not having it and then needing it.
Her ability to stack and organize
the amount of stuff that she has is amazing.
She might be America's most organized hoarder.
- The stacking mostly just came from experience and learning
that if you put something heavier on top of lighter items,
it wasn't gonna stay there very well,
and it would end up falling down,
and it's sort of a Jenga puzzle. (laughs)
Every time I hear things fall down somewhere,
it's almost like if I was in a store
and I heard a baby crying, and it just kept crying,
and nobody went to it and picked it up and comforted it,
that would just really get on my nerves.
Well, hearing stuff fall down
is kind of the same kind of thing.
It just kind of (growls) Me.
(gentle music)
- Over the years, I would say that there's times
that we have had arguments about the stuff in the house.
It has prevented us from having people over.
It has prevented us from enjoying a lot of things.
I'm the kind of a guy that doesn't like to argue
and doesn't like to fight.
And so I can't get anywhere.
When she doesn't wanna do something,
she doesn't wanna do it, so I let it sit and be as it is.
- Ken and I met in Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, at a Bible study.
I was a year outta college, and he was on his way home
from a Chicago Naval training base.
- I was in my Navy blues, and the moment I saw Lia,
I saw stars, and I said, "this is it."
I knew it. Fell in love with her just on sight.
(gentle music)
- I think I was about four or five years old
when we moved into that house.
I remember all the room that that house had.
And it eventually, over time, just got smaller and smaller.
- There were pathways everywhere,
established even back as far as I could remember.
The stuff might not have been
piled as high as we see it today,
but there were still skinny pathways
throughout the entire house. It just seemed normal.
- It started getting worse
after our youngest son left the house,
and therefore had to do something to fill that void.
'Cause in my opinion, Mark was her favorite son.
- I'm Mark. I'm Lia's youngest son.
Last time I've been in mom and dad's house was 1995.
It's been like 27 years.
You could still move around, sit on the couches,
move through the rooms.
Nothing like what the pictures I've seen
look like on the inside now.
I really do fear for their safety
from what I've seen, what the house has become.
(tense music)
- I got admitted to the hospital,
and was there for five days with septicemia,
or what's commonly known as blood poisoning.
We found out later that I'd had a mini stroke,
and that's what caused my loss of hearing in one ear.
With the hearing went a lot of my balance.
- The ambulance crew had to actually carry her
not on a stretcher, but just by gripping her,
'cause they had to go sideways through the house also.
- It took us a half-hour to get
to the front door from the bedroom.
- (whispers) Ow.
- And so everybody, my husband and all three boys,
were concerned about me living in this house the way it is,
that this really wasn't a safe place
for me to be in that condition.
And so we ended up staying with our oldest son.
- It was no question when she got out of the hospital.
We wanted to take care of her.
We wanted to do what's best for her.
We had no problem with it at all.
- I'm Priscilla, and I'm Dean's wife.
It was nice to have 'em around to really get to know them.
But our home is small, and they had to stay
in the front room and use that as their living space.
And it wasn't comfortable. I don't...
I know it wasn't comfortable for them.
- [Ken] I slept on the couch. She slept in her lift chair.
- We knew it was much better for her to be there with us
in a house where she could walk around
with her walker safely than going back there to their house.
But she insisted.
- Yeah, so she just went home,
and we were just really concerned
that that home isn't safe.
- So I'm a fireman for a large city in Missouri,
and currently, I'm a battalion chief.
Over the 27 years that I've served on the department,
I've had to respond to houses that are hoarder houses,
fighting fires in them, or even just trying to respond
to a medical call to a patient inside.
And then when I think of mom and dad living in one of these,
I really do fear for their wellbeing.
(tense music)
- They can't move around very well anymore,
and it just seems to be getting worse.
And if Ken's at work and Lia's at home
and something happens to fall on her, or if she falls,
I don't know how long she would be there
without somebody knowing.
We're just so afraid that if something were to happen
in the home that they wouldn't be able to get out.
- If a fire started in there,
there's no way they'd be able to get out.
(intense music)
They couldn't get to any of the windows
to try to get out that way, and being the age they are now,
they wouldn't have been able to get out a window anyway.
(intense music)
(knocking)
(Lia sighs)
- Hello. - Hello.
- Lia? - Yes.
- Hi, I'm Dr. Zasio. - Hi.
I'm Dr. Robin Zasio.
I'm a licensed clinical psychologist,
and I specialize in helping people
who are struggling with hoarding behaviors.
- Heard you were coming.
- Yes. Is it okay if I come in?
- Sure, come in. - Okay.
(gentle music)
Lia opens the door, and I'm immediately struck
by the amount of stuff.
I'm thinking, "this is a miracle that there's been no fire
"and that no one has died in this hoard."
Walking in here, there's one word that comes to mind, and-
- A mess.
- Well, it's actually quite remarkable.
I've never seen stuff stacked so high
with so much little minutia and how, somehow,
you were able to do this, and I'm curious how you did it.
- (laughs) Just trial and error,
more or less. - Mm hmm.
I mean, when things first started piling up,
we had a lot of avalanches,
but I learned how to build things
and what not to put on top.
- Okay. But I'm curious.
When you're out shopping, are you thinking about
where you could use it or how you could use it?
Because there's really no usable space in this house.
- I try to only buy what I can have
a place for and make use of.
- Mm hmm, and so let's talk about that,
in terms of making use of. There is...
This room goes probably at least six feet back.
So when we buy things, typically we think,
"okay, I'm gonna buy this because I can use it,
I have an idea where I'm gonna put it," that sort of thing.
But all that stuff that is behind this wall right now,
you don't have access to, right?
And so it really isn't usable stuff.
She's thinking, "I have a place for this,"
but there was no point at which Lia began to realize that,
"wait, I already have five of these,"
or "wait, I already have a hoard in my house.
"I need to stop."
And that's one of the hallmarks of hoarding disorder
is they lose that insight.
(intense music)
So Lia, what room is this that we just walked through?
- Front room.
- That's the front room. Is that like the living room also?
- Yeah.
- Okay, and what- - Interchangeable.
- Okay, and what is this room?
- Well, technically, it's a dining room.
- Okay.
We always kind of used it as a family room.
- I have no idea what room I'm in.
None of it makes sense because the hoard is so high,
it's very difficult to tell.
And I can pick those things up for you, if you'd like.
- You don't know where to put 'em.
- I've got a spot over here if you wanna pass it back.
Every time something falls over, she needs to pick it up,
and I've never seen anything like this before.
Typically, in situations like this,
we're walking on stuff and we're trampling stuff.
But for Lia, that is not the case.
- This obviously wasn't that way.
- She wants to protect every single
little item in this hoard.
Lia, I'm wondering if we can just try
to make our way into the kitchen?
- Well, I can't without stepping on all the stuff. (sighs)
(objects clattering)
- [Robin] This is starting to come down.
- Oh.
(gentle music) (Lia breathing heavily)
- What does all this stuff mean to you?
- Not much of anything right now.
- Is all of this stuff filling a void of any kind for you?
- No.
I had one friend tell me one time
she thought I collected things
'cause I didn't have many friends,
and I could count on the things,
- Mmm.
which, there might be some truth to it.
- Did you used to have friends,
and then they just kind of...
- I've never been one to have many friends.
- And why is that?
- (sighing) I don't know.
- Is it something that you want?
- I wouldn't know, 'cause I've never
- Hmm. had a bunch of 'em.
- Okay.
And so one of the things that we're gonna do
a lot of work on is what we call reframing
and looking at things differently,
because you want to be happy with what you have,
but at the same time, everything that you have
is really making you very unhappy.
- In some ways.
But, you know, it's not an immediate concern,
so it got shoved to the back burner. (breathing heavily)
- I'm getting increasingly concerned
with Lia's shortness of breath.
I'm thinking it's better for Lia to stay back
while I go and see the rest of the house.
Well, if I can make a pathway,
can I just take a quick walk back there?
- Yeah. - Okay. All right, thank you.
(tense music)
As I walk back, it's basically the same.
I walk into a room, and there is an extremely narrow pathway
to get into the room, and then to this cubby
where Lia and Ken sleep.
It is so incredibly dangerous to be back there.
I'm feeling uncomfortable.
(Lia breathing heavily)
What's wrong, Lia?
- Avalanches!
I cannot listen to all of this.
Would you please come this way? I gotta get out.
I need out. (sobs)
You've gotta get outta here. Oh.
- You okay?
- Yes. - Okay.
(intense music)
Lia is so upset.
- I can't do this.
- She's getting increasingly distressed.
- This is just... It can't be.
- I'm not feeling good with continuing.
- Can't be doing this. I can't even get to my bed.
(sobbing)
(tense music)
(suspenseful music)
(Lia breathing heavily)
- Tim needs to come in.
I was concerned about her health and her breathing,
and I thought that it was important
that I go out to get Tim, our medic,
so that he can assess her to ensure that she's okay.
She hears the slightest little sound,
she starts breathing hard.
She cannot tolerate anything on the ground at all.
- Okay.
- She has to pick up every little thing,
and I'm now worried because she really can't talk very well,
and I think that you should go assess her.
- Oh, certainly. I'll go ahead and assess her
and check her vitals and...
- Yeah. - Make sure she's stable.
- Okay.
(classical music playing)
Just wanted to check on you.
I know this is really hard for you.
I have Tim the medic here.
I didn't know if you were okay.
- I'm fine. I just... It's just nerves.
- I understand.
This is a really, really difficult process for you.
We completely understand, and we're doing our best
to try to be careful and respectful for you.
I suspect that she goes through this every single day,
because even as you're walking through this pathway,
if you don't hit anything,
things are falling off one by one.
And if she's having that shortness of breath,
it's something that's probably familiar to her.
(intense music)
All right.
So Ken and Lia, of course, we have Mark here.
This is Cory Chalmers, who I mentioned earlier.
- Nice to meet you guys.
I'm Cory Chalmers, an extreme cleaner
specializing in biohazard and hoarding.
Right now, I'm gonna take Mark in the house,
and we're both gonna do our tour of it
just to see what we're up against.
- The pathways are extremely narrow,
so you have to be very careful.
We're doing our best to be very respectful to Lia.
I think it's important that we all talk
once you've gone through the house so that we can talk
a little bit about what the plan is.
- Sounds good.
- Okay. - We'll go take a look.
- All right. - We'll meet you back here.
- Okay, sounds good.
(intense music)
- Oh... - Whoa.
- You haven't been here since when?
- I think '95 was my last time in here.
It's 27 years since I've been in there.
I knew it was getting bad, and I'd even seen some pictures,
but that amount of stuff packed so tightly
in such a narrow path, that's mind boggling.
It was nothing like this in '95. Wow.
That is obviously as high as mom can reach right there.
- Yeah.
- It's all... It's very consistent, right? All along.
(object clattering)
See? - Yeah.
- I mean, how does this make you feel,
knowing that they're living in this?
- (sighs) We gotta get this outta here.
(tense music)
Had kind of a flood of various emotions.
There was, of course, initially some shock. There was...
Kind of swallowed down some anger when I was in there,
and just a sense of desperate to get them out of there.
(intense music)
Nobody should be here.
- Well, you want to make your way back to the...
Wherever this leads?
- Yeah, yeah. - Sorry, I don't know
where we're going, but...
- This should be the dining room around the corner here.
- [Cory] Wow.
- Here's mom's chair. You can see the side of it.
- How long has it been since she sat there?
I've honestly never seen a goat trail
this tightly packed in my life.
Walking through Lia's goat trails is very disorienting.
You honestly have no idea what room you're in
because you're just following a path of stuff.
All right, serious question. Like what room is this?
- We called this the dining room.
- So that's the light that would be
over the dining room table.
- Yeah, but the table was over here against...
Basically in this corner. I'm sure it's still there.
- It's getting narrower.
- Yeah, it is.
- So the kitchen was over here,
but you can't get to the fridge.
- What's in there?
- I don't want to know. Well, you can get to the sink.
- Where's the stove?
- Right down here, next to the fridge.
(whispering) Oh my god.
- Yeah. So far, there's zero functionality.
- No.
- There's no way that they use this at all.
Can I let you lead? 'Cause I don't know where I'm going.
- Sure.
This is the hall back to the bedrooms,
and then there's also the flight of stairs
that goes upstairs.
The upstairs was always junked up,
- Mm hmm. far back as I can remember.
- She's literally been hoarding your whole life.
- Yeah. And this is their bedroom here.
- (sighs) You kidding me? Where? Where's the bed?
- How do they fit?
This is six inches. This is six inches wide.
- That's where they're sleeping?
- There's stuff down where the legs should be.
I don't know how they're sleeping on this.
I don't understand.
(sighs) God.
- Think about this, you know,
we both know what it looks like when there's a fire.
This place would fill with smoke instantly.
And they're gonna be way in the back.
There's no way they would find their way out and...
- Not at all.
- There's not a chance firefighters would find them
in here for hours and hours. - No way.
- Nope, nope. It would be a body recovery.
- And she needs to understand that.
- There's no chance, and I've not seen a smoke detector.
I'll bet you the smoke detector that was just propped up
against the stair railing here when I was a kid
is still there and inoperable for decades.
- This is a death trap.
- Oh, absolutely.
- This is a death trap.
Because he's an active battalion chief
on the fire department, like myself,
Mark is extremely concerned about the safety
of his parents in this home.
There is no way that rescue workers can get in
if there's a medical emergency or a fire.
And if there's a fire, there's no way they're gonna get out.
So we're gonna go outside, meet Dr. Zasio, Lia, and Ken,
and have that difficult conversation.
Well, hopefully Dr. Zasio and your parents are out there,
and we can talk to 'em.
- It's grandma and grandpa. Grandma was always amazed.
She said, "I didn't teach her to be like that."
(intense music)
- Why do you have those pictures out here?
- Because they need to not be in the pile of junk.
(intense music)
Taking this one with me. Just sitting in a pile.
- It was up on the mantle.
- Just sitting in a pile. It's grandma and grandpa.
- I said it belonged on the mantle.
- This is a death trap.
I don't know-
- Just don't go there. - How you've done this.
- We did, and we- - I don't know how.
You can't.
You can't do this anymore. - Well, that's why we're here.
- You can't do this anymore.
- All right.
- You're not even gonna stay here tonight.
- Yes, we are. - No, you're not.
You raised me strong, and I'm putting my foot down.
You're not staying here tonight.
(intense music)
- We would like to get you a hotel room
so that nothing happens to you
while we're getting this home in order for you.
- Do you understand why we need to do that, mom?
- Tonight is no different than the last 10 years.
- Ask anybody who's been in a house fire.
Or what about an earthquake?
I don't know how those walls are staying up.
You never know when one's gonna happen.
Mom?
- Well, it's the bed arrangements
that never work out for me.
- [Mark] The bed? The bed is half covered.
- Well, that wasn't that way before yesterday.
I slept underneath the pile last night.
- I don't want that. - But that-
- You deserve better than that. We gotta get away from this.
- Well, we're not arguing that part.
- Did I hear that you would be willing
to stay in the hotel that we're offering for a few days
so that we know you're safe?
- I suppose.
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
- And I'll go in and get things that you need.
- So, decision's been made.
Ken, Lia, this is the first start to wellness,
and that is starting to make
really good decisions for yourselves.
- All right.
- I'm sorry, mom, but I'm not sorry. Okay?
Dad, got you.
I got you, okay? I got you. Do you trust me?
Do you trust me? - Yes.
- I got you.
I got you.
(Mark sniffs)
No matter what, she's not gonna stay here tonight.
Mom, dad, never again. Never again.
(tense music)
- It's the first day of the cleanup,
and Lia's gonna set the pace.
We're gonna have a morning meeting
and just see how she's doing.
Then we're gonna get started.
Good morning, everyone.
- [Group] Good morning.
- Lia, this is a big day for you. How you feeling?
Lia? You doing alright? How you feeling today?
- I'm okay.
- Lia's body language is speaking volumes.
Her eyes are closed, she's got her fist on her cheek,
and she will not make any eye contact.
So Lia, talk to us about what's going on for you right now,
'cause your body language is giving us
a really, really strong message.
And I know the last couple days have been draining for you,
but we're now ready to tackle this, as Cory said,
to get your home safe so that you and Ken are safe
and that you can have your family over.
Talk to us about what's going on for you.
- The time constraints, not being able to go
through everything and not be pressured by time.
- Well, you are gonna be able to go through things, Lia.
The crew is gonna bring everything out for you
so that you can see everything and make decisions.
So this is a real opportunity for you.
It's about making a decision
to think differently about things.
And rather than seeing this
as something that's gonna be tragic,
maybe you could reframe it and see it as something
as an opportunity to reclaim your house.
This is an opportunity,
but I don't think she's seeing it that way.
I think she's already projecting that this is gonna be
really hard, which I know it will be,
but she's got a lot of support backing her.
She's got her family. We have Cory's crew. I'm here.
But I think that she's only seeing this
as something horrible that's about to happen.
- I'm really concerned that you're just checked out, okay?
- I'm not checked out.
I'm listening. - Okay, well, look at me.
I want to be able to have dialogue with you,
and know that you're here and listening.
But when you stare at the floor,
I feel like you're not listening.
- I'm listening.
- Okay. Ken, how are you feeling?
- I'm pretty good.
- Yeah?
- I'm hoping that four days from now, or whenever,
I can be in the house and look around and say,
"wow, this is great."
- Yes. (people laughing)
- Okay. All right.
That's the attitude we're looking for.
- Yes.
- We're gonna get our supplies, Lia,
and I will meet you back at the front door, okay?
- Um hmm.
- All right. Let's get started.
- Great.
- There's a few issues starting this cleanup.
One is gonna be Lia and how she handles stuff
falling and coming outta the house. But two, the logistics.
If she says "go," we have a lot of stuff
to remove from this house to make it
safe and functional in only a few days.
I'm stuck already.
(intense music)
Here's my concern.
My very valid concern is if I have people come in
and start filling this stuff up with boxes
and bringing it out, you know what's gonna happen, right?
We are gonna have an avalanche that's never-ending,
'cause there's no way to make a clean break on this pile.
- Well, no, but you start at the top.
- I understand.
But even like you just did, stuff started to fall down.
Okay? It's not brick and mortar. It's not gonna stand.
So we are gonna have a mess.
Can we get started in this room,
knowing that things are gonna fall,
you're not gonna have that path like you're used to?
- I mean, I know.
- That's the only way- - That's gonna happen.
- So is that a yes?
- Yeah, I mean...
- Okay, so let's step outside.
We'll get the crew in here to start methodically
bringing this stuff out to the sorting area where you'll be,
and then you can put your eyes on everything
that comes out and help make decisions,
and then we can reevaluate that process
and see how quickly that's going.
- Mm hmm.
- All right. Thank you.
(intense music)
Grab a box, and let's try not to avalanche
everything in there as best you can.
Try to work from the top.
(intense music)
Got another flat coming in.
Box coming your way.
(objects clattering) (intense music)
- What you wanna be thinking about is,
what do you and Ken need?
Lia, anything that you wanna keep in there?
- Wide mouth bottles.
- Wide mouth bottles?
- Yeah, like that one and this one,
because you can put ice cubes down in 'em
when I carry water with me.
- You wanna put ice cubes in this to drink?
By the end of this whole process,
you'll probably have more of these
that you've dranken out of.
So can we agree that anything
that comes out of the house can go, with respect?
- No, I wanna keep at least six of them.
The wide mouth ones.
- Okay.
- Oh, that's a brick.
- Half of a brick. - Well, it should go
on our brick pile outside.
- Keep... You wanna keep a broken brick?
- Yes.
- Okay.
- She focused on almost every little item
that came out of the house.
I did kind of expect that to be the case.
- This is a sun shade for the car?
- No, it's a mobile ironing board.
- When was the last time you ironed, let alone mobiley?
- I iron on patches.
- [Mark] When was the last time you ironed a patch on, mom?
Let's be honest.
- Like, just, probably before I went in the hospital.
- How did you iron anything in the house?
- On the bed.
And that's a pad you lay down and then iron on top.
- I'm frustrated. I'm bothered. I'm upset.
She's gotta change her way of thinking
so that we can get some real progress
and make their house livable again,
'cause this is unsustainable.
(intense music)
(workers speaking)
- We are backlogged at the sorting area.
The tarp is full with all the items we brought out,
and she hasn't even made a dent.
Everything is being kept, kept, kept.
(indistinct conversation) (intense music)
So let me tell you this.
All the tarp right there that you see
is full now of all the stuff coming out.
All we've gotten to is behind your front door.
That's all we can do at this point is open the front door.
- There's a whole lot of multiple items
- Screw-in thingy.
- [Cory] It's a matter of necessity.
- It's a lot of multiple items.
- [Cory] Do we need-
- My other hats.
- Lia, you're shutting everyone out.
Can you listen? 'Cause people are talking.
And I know it's hard,
but don't touch things for just a minute, okay?
These are those conversations that we have to have.
- The question is, so many multiples of one type of item.
That's the question. Why do you need so many of one thing?
- [Robin] So Mark, I'm actually gonna reframe that
because it's not useful if you can't access it.
- I agree with that.
- Okay?
And so what's gonna happen is, is all we're doing
is shifting the items in there by putting them in boxes,
which will create just a wall of boxes in the home.
- [Cory] I agree. - Masks.
- So, mom, can you answer that, please?
Mom? Mom? (indistinct conversation)
Can you answer that, please?
- Stop fidgeting. Gotta have these conversations, Lia.
- Mom.
We have to.
- Oh.
- You're a smart person. Let's look at this logically.
How can you use so many of one thing
when you can't get to any of it?
- Like hats, you don't just need one.
You use them for different purposes.
Some of 'em are heavy, and some of 'em are lighter.
They go with a different outfit.
They serve different purposes.
- Your outfits are always red, white, and blue.
- Do you need...
- And the hat. - Do you need them?
It may be useful and have a purpose,
but do you need them to survive?
I think we all know the answer.
She's thinking, "okay, well this item serves a purpose.
"I used it last week, so I'm gonna keep it,"
but the reality is she doesn't need it,
and she is not agreeing with that
or seeing that side or thinking logically.
- So just burn the house down.
- No, we don't want to do that.
- Throw everything out and put me in a nursing home,
'cause that's where it's going.
- No, it's not. No, it's not.
- According to you. I mean, according-
- According to whom? Nobody has said anything to that.
- It's just a reframing of your mind.
We don't need this stuff.
We don't need it.
- You don't.
- "Need" and "need" is different definitions by each of you.
- I feel pushing mom, it has to be done.
She has to get to the point
where it's either gonna go one of two directions.
We're either gonna get this done
or accomplish absolutely zero.
She has to be pushed to that breaking point,
and we cannot continue at the pace that we see today.
We need you to understand and accept
that we have to step up the pace.
- So something different has to happen if something,
a different result, is gonna happen with the house.
And that is a must. - Oh.
- A different result with the house is an absolute must.
Whether you like that or not, that's a must.
- Where you going, Lia?
- I'm going home.
- You're going where?
- No, you're not. - Somewhere else.
- No, you're not. - Excuse me, please.
- No.
- Lia, come back, please.
- Sit down. Sit down and talk. - Please.
- Dr. Zasio, myself, the family,
we have all tried to coach her through this process
to speed it up, and nothing seems to be working.
I want to take Lia, Mark, and Dean
inside of that front little room
that we were able to clean out
and just show 'em the slow progress that we've made.
We brought you in here
because this is very little space created.
We're past day one, and we've literally created
25 square feet of space in a 1600 square foot house.
- With 25% of the time allotted for cleanup.
- So we just want you to know, this is your pace,
and if this is the way you want to do it,
this is the result you're gonna get.
You'll have three more days of 25 square feet.
You'll have a hundred square feet, 75 square feet,
depending on how fast you move.
- That's not what I agreed to when we started.
- Come back- - Then what did you agreed to?
- Come here. Mom, please come here.
- I'm out here.
- Can you come back?
- No, I don't want to come back there.
- Okay, fine. We'll come out here.
What did you not agree to?
- Well, it feels like harassment.
- We're not... No one's harassing you.
- I said-
- I know. - That's what it feels like.
- But everyone cares about you.
- It still feels like harassment.
- Well, I understand why it feels like that,
but is it possible to reframe that to understand
that we're pushing you because we need you in a safe space?
Is it possible to reframe that feeling, that emotion?
Would you please try?
- You don't see the danger in here? Mom?
- Yeah- - You don't?
- Sort of.
- Let's focus on something bigger.
What would make tomorrow better
as far as the process and the result?
How do we get a better result,
more than five feet of clean space
where you feel like you're in control,
you're not missing things?
I don't think it's possible. - Is there a way to get there?
You believe there's no way
to get this house cleaned up in time?
- Not in your four days.
- I can say, if you weren't here,
- Mm hmm. we could certainly do it.
So it's not that it's not possible,
it's how we get there that we're struggling with.
Can I give you the homework of thinking of a way
where we can do things better tomorrow,
and you let us know when we get here?
What can you think of that would
speed up the process for us? Okay?
And let's see if we can't come up with something tomorrow.
Is that fair?
- I guess.
- Okay.
(gentle music)
- Remember when I said I got you?
We do, if you let us help. Okay? So let us help.
- It's actually quite remarkable.
I've never seen stuff stacked so high
with so much little minutia.
(intense music)
- Could you imagine if there was a fire in this house?
This place would fill a smoke instantly,
and they're gonna be way in the back.
There's no way they would find their way out, and-
- [Mark] Not at all. - There's not a chance
firefighters would find them in here.
- Nope. It would be a body recovery.
(intense music)
Oh, that's a brick.
- Half of a brick. - Well, it should go
on our brick pile outside.
- You wanna keep a broken brick?
- Yes.
- Okay.
(intense music)
- So can I give you that homework tonight
of thinking of a way where we can do things better tomorrow,
and you let us know when we get here
of a better way to do things?
(intense music)
I gave her a homework assignment to just see
if there's something that she can change about today
that'll make the process easier and faster.
Good morning, everyone.
- [Group] Good morning.
- Before we start,
we have a new family member joining us just for today.
Kelly, is that correct? Where are you at?
Oh, I can't- (people laughing)
Well, welcome. We could use all the support
I think we can get. - Absolutely.
- So hopefully you can help us out today.
Lia, your homework assignment was to kind of think about
how things could be different today,
putting less stress on you but still making more progress.
And did you think of any way to do that overnight?
Make it easier on you and still make progress?
- Well, the...
- Mom?
(sighs)
We need you to let us decide what's best for you.
- Then I need to get in the car and just leave.
- We need you to be a part of this.
If we don't get through this house, mom, it...
- We're not going to.
- Then you can't live in it.
- Well, that's what I said. I'm just gonna walk away.
- Well, what are you gonna do if we walk away?
- Sit in the car and die.
- Mom, we're trying to help you.
We're not trying to hurt you.
- And we want better for you.
There's a tremendous amount of resources here
to help you get there. And what about dad?
Don't you think he deserves better than this?
When he works so hard to take care of you and serve you,
he deserves better than this.
- Is any of this making any sense?
- Can you answer, mom, please?
- Yeah, but it doesn't make it any different for me.
- Lia, is there one room in the house
that we could just test you letting go of some control?
I asked Ken earlier, and he said
the breakfast room might be that room.
Would you trust your boys to go
through that room and make decisions?
Let's just start with this one room.
- It'd be a great baby step. What do you think, mom?
- That's a great idea.
- You'll still have 95% of the house full of your stuff.
- Will you give us that permission?
What do you say, mom?
- Mom, can we make the decisions in the breakfast room?
- Will you give us that?
- Yeah.
- Is that a game plan?
Right here, put her here. - All in.
- Put her here. (laughs) Ready, team?
(laughing)
- All right. - All right.
Decision's been made. - Count of three.
One, two, three. Break!
- All right.
- Thank you for at least letting us do this.
It means a lot to everybody.
(tense music) (workers speaking)
This is a huge moment for us.
This is the first time Lia is relinquishing control,
so I just had some very clear ground rules for the boys
that they don't just throw everything in the dumpster.
They have to bring stuff out so that Lia knows
there's some decisions being made,
and that will help build her trust.
- What do you think? One yard stick?
- Yeah, let her keep a yard stick,
although there's a million more.
- Hey, guys, the dumpster's gonna get picked up
in about 20 minutes, and it is only about...
Not even a third full.
So that means try to go fast and get more full.
(objects clattering) - Aw, that feels good. Yeah.
(intense music)
The small breakfast area has been
successfully cleaned by Lia's sons.
Now it's time to bring her in, show them their work,
and just see what her response is.
That might fuel her, and it might scare her.
We just don't know. So we're gonna test it.
Come on in, Lia.
(Lia breathing heavily) What do you think?
- [Lia] It's a mess.
- It's a mess?
- Yeah.
- It's a mess now?
- Oh, yeah.
- Can you find anything positive about the room?
- It's empty.
- Is that a good thing, Lia?
- Not necessarily.
- Okay.
So is it your preference that we just fill it back up again,
just bring everything back in again?
- Not all of it.
- This is gonna save the house, mom.
- If we can continue the rest of it.
- This isn't worth living here for.
- No, this is one step.
- Accomplishments like this throughout the rest of the house
is what's gonna save the house.
- Let's put a spin on it. I know you like sewing and crafts.
What about making this into a sewing room and a craft room,
and you can actually do something that you enjoy doing?
Would that be a positive?
- Never used it that way before, but...
- It could be anything you want.
- Mm hmm. - Mm hmm.
- So does this room represent the benefits
of continuing this process?
- Mm, yeah.
- Are you sure, Lia, or are you just saying that
because that seems like the right answer?
- It's what needs to be done.
- Okay. Will you let us keep going?
The next step is that kitchen, and that's a big step.
- This is what the entrance of your kitchen looks like.
- I know.
- Can we keep going?
Will you let us keep going, mom?
(intense music)
- We need your permission to go to the next level.
I hope Lia's happy enough to let us continue on
into the kitchen and laundry room.
Are you okay with us making your kitchen
safe and functional now?
- Thank you.
- [Cory] Sweet. Yes.
- [Robin] Okay. - [Cory] All right, perfect.
- Okay. - Thank you, guys.
Let's get started.
- Thanks, mom.
(intense music) (objects clattering)
- Okay, I wanted to get some more of those.
This goes with the phone stuff.
- So Lia, could we chat for a moment?
I'm not seeing any kind of strategy in place
to start reducing all the stuff.
It seems like you're just reorganizing it all.
- Mm, sort of.
- Okay.
So if we're just gonna reorganize the stuff,
what would be the purpose of doing all of this
if you're just reorganizing it
and gonna put it back in the house?
- Well, when it's organized, it'll take a lot less space.
We need a smaller box for phone equipment.
- Lia, can you just stop for a second?
- I don't like wasting the time.
- But there's really no purpose in us being here
if we're just bringing it out to take it back in.
How are we helping?
- We can get it into boxes. They'll be labeled.
- If you are looking for some hot cocoa,
you're gonna ask Ken to move
six or seven boxes, maybe 20 or 30 boxes,
because it's in the back of the living room,
to get a package of hot cocoa.
- Yeah.
- You are? - Yeah. I know it's there.
- Lia, do you believe that you have a problem with hoarding?
- Yeah. - Okay.
Are you interested in getting better?
(Lia mumbles)
How are we gonna change things and work on things
if you're not willing to take some direction?
I haven't made any headway with Lia at all.
She's not changing her thinking,
and that's part of the problem.
Because without changing your thinking,
you can't do anything different.
Right now, we're not accomplishing anything
but putting your stuff in boxes.
So are you interested in having a house
where you and Ken can interact with one another,
you can walk freely with one another,
you can be safe, you can sit next to each other,
your family can come and visit,
your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren?
Are you interested in all of that?
- Probably not very much.
- (sighs) So really, there's nothing that I can do
to help you at this point, it sounds like,
because you've pretty much made up your mind
that you're gonna do everything your way
and not take any direction.
- Well, this isn't my way though.
I'm not doing things my way.
- But what we're trying to do is give you
the right way to do it so that you can get better
and you and Ken can live in a safe, functioning home.
And this is not working.
Right now, the trajectory is that we're gonna
refill your house up, and there's not gonna be any space.
What Lia doesn't understand is the whole goal
of this process was to salvage her home,
to make it safe for the remaining years
that her and Ken have together.
But she's not keeping that in mind.
It does not seem to be a motivator.
The only thing that she is passionate about
is holding onto her stuff.
Ken, have you been happy
living in the home the way it's been?
- No.
- Okay.
Come around and talk to Lia about how you feel.
Tell Lia how you feel about the condition of the home.
- I think the condition that we have to live in
is very constrictive, very cumbersome at times,
trying to negotiate a passageway through there.
- This box, for instance, that she's holding onto,
if it's at the bottom of a stack of six boxes
and four aisles in of boxes that you will go in,
if she wants some cocoa, move all those boxes
and unpack the box to get a package of cocoa?
Is that something that you're willing to do?
- No. That's gotta be nearly impossible.
- Right.
- It becomes a very hard mental issue
trying to deal with trying to find something
when you don't know where it is.
And as I get older and my memory is getting worse...
- Mm hmm.
- It's going to get to be a point of impossibility.
- Right.
- Which means that we have to have a lot less stuff.
- Right.
- We're gonna have to let go.
- I'll just go down the street.
- We have to let go.
- Just take it all.
- What would be the harm of paring it down?
- I would not be me for the rest of whatever I have left,
if anything, of my life. - Okay.
So this stuff represents who you are as a person?
- Yep, a lot of it.
(intense music)
- All of us love you. And let me ask you this.
Does any of this material stuff love you?
- It's there when I want it and need it.
- And it does not love you. You only love it.
When you get to the point where you can have space
to do things that you love to do...
- The stuff I wanted to use will not be there for me to use.
- But it wasn't available to you before,
because it was buried.
That's the point we're trying to make to you, so...
- I know that.
- Not being available in your home
versus not being available ever,
they're the very same thing.
And so is it worth getting rid of some of the stuff
that can make your house livable so that you can embrace
your husband of 54 years for the remainder of your life?
For there is such loss in all this stuff,
such loss of memories.
- Do you want your grandchildren?
Do you want them to come here and hug you?
- I want to get busy working on sorting things.
- Well, then I'm going to have to throw more stuff away
than what you're willing to throw away.
- Oh, that's right.
I'm just gonna get in my car and drive off.
- No, you can't save everything that you have.
You've got to let it go.
- So take it away.
- All right. It's going.
- So am I.
(intense music)
(workers speaking)
- Ken confronts Lia and says, "the stuff is going."
And she flat out told him,
"if the stuff is going then, so am I."
We can't have Lia leaving, so I went and got Mark.
Can you go talk to her and try to reason with her?
I've tried everything I can possibly think of.
(intense music)
- What's going on?
- I'm going to the motel. - No.
We don't want that to happen, mom. We need you here.
No, we don't. - And we want you here.
- Well, dad doesn't.
- He does want you here.
Mom, can you look at me?
- No. - Why not?
- I'm leaving.
- I know there's a lot of negative feelings coming up,
but there's so much more positive
that's happening to outweigh the negatives.
- It's going, according to him.
- It's going to what you guys need
to have a house to live in.
- You won't listen to me.
- That's right.
- Mom. It takes two in a marriage.
You've gotta let dad be a part of this.
- Well, you're keeping too much stuff.
- Yeah.
It's stuff that you don't need right now-
- That you don't need.
- So let's just keep going. Please.
Don't bring it to an end.
We came to an agreement. Mom said she'd get back to work.
There is mouse poops in here.
- So dump them out.
- Mom, there's diseases in mouse poops.
- Where are all my rags?
- Mom, I threw them away because of-
- I'm using them right now.
- So you're wiping around mouse poop contamination.
That's not okay, mom. That's not okay.
(Robin sighs)
- All the times that I've worked with someone
who's struggling with hoarding behaviors,
I've never seen anybody hold onto the stuff that she does.
- How old is that? Let me see that.
- 7/04.
- You agree that's bad? - No, I don't.
- [Mark] Yes, that's bad, mom.
- 20 years old. - So?
What? It doesn't hurt it.
- Yes, it... Mom, this...
That's unbelievable for an RN. Mom.
- At this point, I'm feeling pretty defeated.
She's not following any of the standard rules
that are really important in this process,
such as letting go of expired items.
She won't hear it at all.
So at this point,
I think we're gonna have to wrap things up,
basically take another go at it tomorrow.
(intense music)
- We're gonna start today off with a tour of the house.
We're gonna show the whole family
everything that we've accomplished so far,
and that's the laundry room,
the kitchen, and the breakfast area.
What do you think, being able to walk in this way again?
- Does it feel good to be able to have a clear path?
- Where's all my stuff that I use?
- Okay, well...
As I thought, nothing positive out of Lia's mouth.
Very hard for her to focus
on anything positive through this process,
so I'm not expecting the rest
of the walkthrough to go very well at all.
- All right, so how does this feel?
- Awkward.
(Ken laughs)
- Okay. Because you're not used to it?
- Because I don't know where anything was.
- Is there something positive that you could say
about where we're at at this point, Lia?
- It looks nice.
- Okay, good. Yeah. We'll take that.
Ken, how are you feeling?
- Wow. (people laughing)
- Yes. I love that enthusiasm. There we go.
When we walk into the breakfast room, sure enough,
any positivity that we did have was gone again.
She just cannot see anything good happening
out of any of this without her stuff.
- The overwhelming feeling
is not knowing where everything is.
The positives are for everybody else.
- Well, we're trying to make you see the positives too.
- Yeah.
- Positive is you get to be in your home.
It's gonna be very positive for me.
- Yeah. (laughing)
- [Robin] Yay. - And that means a lot.
- Here's my goal, and I think everyone's goal, is safety.
Really, the last thing to do is your bedroom.
And I know that's a sensitive room.
That is the most severe bedroom I have ever seen
for fall hazards, things falling on you hazards,
and being trapped in there in a fire.
Is there any way we can clean your room
and organize it a little better?
- Let's go.
- Mom, what do you think?
- It's gotta be done. Please.
- (mumbling) I don't know.
- Trust me. - But there's so many
little things in there that I use, and...
- Will you let us do it?
- Yeah. - [Cory] Thank you.
- [Robin] Okay. - [Cory] Thank you, Lia.
Thank you. - [Robin] Okay.
Oh, okay.
- [Cory] Let's go get started, guys. (crosstalk)
- [Robin] Let's go ahead and get started.
- [Cory] Okay.
(tense music)
Come look at the freezer. We have to address this.
I know you don't believe in expiration dates,
so I guess what we're saying is you wanna keep all this?
- I don't know, but I don't want to take time right now
with you guys here to do that.
- We've got insects in there. We've got a lot of mold.
I wanna be really clear that you are intending to go
through this to see if there's any good, usable food.
- Yes. Yes. Yes. - It's destroyed.
- [Cory] Everything's decomposing.
- It's decomposing, and it's contaminated.
- You are a nurse.
How come you don't see the dangers in this stuff?
Why would you wanna go through this?
Tell me one thing you would wanna keep in there.
- The nutmegs.
- Where?
- Right there.
- Why do you wanna keep this?
- I use Nutmeg all the time
from Thanksgiving through the winter.
- You haven't used this in how many years?
- So? - How do you know
it's not gonna hurt? - It's sealed, it's not moldy.
(intense music)
(sighs)
- So we're talking with your mom right now
because she wants to take items out
and reuse them and clean them.
- And eat them?
- And eat them.
- Look at that.
It didn't even have to be refrigerated or frozen.
- You have to be kidding me.
- No. What? - You have to be kidding me.
How about I trade you some fresh?
I'll buy you some fresh nutmeg.
- So that isn't the issue.
(crosstalk) That is not the issue.
The issue is she does not want-
- I have containers that I would want to wipe down.
- She does not want Cory to go through this
because she wants to go through it. (crosstalk)
Salvage whatever food that she can, and utilize-
- You guys can go through other stuff.
- And utilize the containers in there.
- Yeah, mom, that is, so far, the most disgusting thing
I've seen in this whole house,
so let them just haul this out.
That's done deal. That is a no go.
Mom, come here. Mom, just stay here.
That's a no go. Will you please agree on that?
That's super unhealthy.
Be exposing yourself to all the spores
from those molds and mildew, that's super hazardous.
- Hey, you have a doctor,
you have two paramedics, and a nurse yourself.
This is a lot of medical knowledge in this room
to know that this is not healthy,
and anything in there is not healthy.
Gotta start with the first step, and that's letting go
of something that is absolutely unhealthy.
- Well, you're gonna do it.
- I am so worried about her. I can't even tell you.
This has taken it to a whole nother level.
(intense music)
- Mom is wanting to keep some of the food
and some of the containers that's in that freezer.
It's mind boggling.
Honestly, I'm a little concerned.
Is that the beginning of dementia creeping in?
That kind of disconnect for self care is...
- Let's get Ken in here. Let's get your dad in here.
- Yeah, I'll get him.
(workers speaking)
- Hey, Ken, I have brought her in to show her the freezer,
and she insists that even though this freezer doesn't work,
she is insisting on keeping this.
- She said she wants to keep this?
- Yes. She said, "do not touch my freezer.
"I wanna keep the food. I wanna clean the food.
"I wanna keep what food I can,
"and I wanna keep all the containers that are in there,
"as well as the blue ice packs."
- I'm sorry.
- Yes. - Yes.
- So if she wants to keep this...
- Oh, it stinks.
- Okay?
If she wants to keep that, then you can now see
why she's having so much trouble with all the other stuff.
- Yeah. How that is valuable to her is incomprehensible.
- Yeah, no kidding.
- The way we operate is we don't get rid of things
without somebody's permission,
but this is half your food, half your freezer.
Do you give permission for Cory's team to get rid of this?
- Yes.
- Okay.
So if you could please tell Lia that you have
made an executive decision, the freezer is going,
and then Cory and his team can make it happen?
Lay down the law there, Ken.
(intense music)
- Clothing.
- Hello.
- Hello. What you been doing?
- Looking at stuff.
- Where?
- The freezer.
We're gonna get rid of it.
It is going to be a hazard that we cannot fix,
and we got this team here that can fix the hazard.
Okay? It's going away.
We're not keeping any of it.
- No, I don't agree with that.
- Huh?
- I said I don't agree with that part.
- All right. I give them permission.
- It's going.
(intense music)
- I'm really proud of Ken.
He's starting to take ownership of this house
and what he wants for this house,
and that's really important,
because his life is at stake also
if this house doesn't get cleaned up.
(intense music)
- Please stop!
Stuff is going away that I don't want going away.
- Okay. Well, do you want to talk to your sons?
We gave them control.
- Oh, yeah.
- What's going in?
- Oh, I see blankets. I see pillows.
- Okay, but we have about 40 boxes just with bedding,
pillows, cloth, clothing, everything around your bed.
Boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes.
So I don't think you need the extra pillows and blankets
they're letting go. - You wouldn't,
but I have a lot of different pillow needs.
- Like what? Let's go through 'em.
What are your pillow needs?
- Depends on where I am and what I'm doing.
- Well, right now, you can only be on your bed.
So there's not so much you can do on there
except sit or lay. How many pillows do you need? Justify it.
Tell me why you need 'em. This is what I need to know.
I will have this conversation with you, and I'll dig it out,
but let's have an honest conversation why you need
so many pillows when we have saved you
boxes and boxes of them already.
- But there's different kinds of pillows.
- Those were regular pillows, weren't they?
- No. Well, one was like a neck pillow.
- Okay, but we already have neck pillows.
- But they're not all the same.
- How many neck pillows can you possibly use or need?
Right now, where those are coming from,
those have been buried behind that wall
of clothing for years in your room.
You would've never, ever gotten to it.
- I want them available to me, please.
- I don't know. I don't know how to help you at this point.
I really don't. You're just giving up.
- Mm hmm.
- Why?
- Because it's too much.
- She's upset because a pillow was thrown in the dumpster,
even though she had already given her sons
permission and trust to make decisions.
But I think she's starting to have regrets about that.
(intense music)
Lia, at this point, do you want us to stop?
- I want to stop throwing stuff from the bedroom away.
- Okay. - Okay, we can do that.
- We can do that. The bedroom is hands off.
- Stop working in the bedroom.
- All right.
(intense music)
- You basically said that you wanted us to go ahead
and stop in the bedroom, which your boys did.
So nothing else has been taken out.
It's our understanding that at this point, the plan is,
Lia, you're gonna work on going through these boxes,
and then that's gonna be basically it.
Is that what you're telling us?
- I guess.
- Okay.
So essentially what this means is that,
with the amount of boxes that are left over,
we're gonna fill up that one room that's empty,
and it will lead, once again, to difficulty with mobility
in the house and safety with regard to fire
and ability to exit, which means that this home
is not gonna be livable.
So I guess I have to ask you, Ken,
what does this mean for moving forward?
Because we're actually gonna leave
with the house in the same condition.
- That I'm gonna have to just... (sighs)
Force the issue of taking and getting rid of stuff,
which I haven't done before.
- But it's the right thing to do if...
- Well, just dump everything.
- Well, honestly, yes. That's what I'm asking you.
If you wanna live here...
You can't stay in this house anymore the way it is.
- So I'm homeless.
- That's up to you. None of us feel like that.
- Lia, Lia, look me in the eye.
- I hear you.
- We're gonna get rid of the stuff.
- Thank you.
Only I'm not sitting in the car. I'm going away.
- I want you to sit in the car and rest.
(car engine starts)
- Who's leaving? Is that her?
Well, where do they think they're going?
I think he's just parking behind her car.
Good move, dad. (laughs)
- Stay here and rest.
- I can't get out.
- That's right. I did that on purpose.
(intense music)
(tense music) (workers speaking)
I pulled my car up behind her
just to make sure she doesn't leave,
'cause I want her to sit there and rest,
but I told her I'm getting rid of stuff.
So do it, please.
Let's do it as fast as we can and get rid of it.
- I would say for the next hour, hour and a half,
do as much as we can to get that one dumpster full
from your bedroom, hallway, and the bathroom. Sound good?
- Yes.
- [Cory] Okay. - All right.
- Well, let's not waste any more time.
- All right. - All right.
(intense music)
- I'm really proud of Ken, because prior to our arrival,
he wasn't able to take a stand.
He simply allowed the stuff
to come in and took direction from Lia.
Now he puts his foot down.
He's half of this house, and he just wants it to be safe.
- If they're taking that, can you guys take some loads?
Look at that muscle.
- We have Mark, Dean, and Priscilla in the bedroom
with a lot of my Steri-Clean crew,
and they are really moving fast,
and everything is coming outta there.
(intense music)
So this last push, kind of forced by Ken,
got them past the crisis of not having a functional house.
They now have a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom,
laundry room, all the things that we needed
for this house to not be reported.
Tomorrow morning, we're gonna start
tackling that living room wall.
That's a big project, and I just don't know
that we have enough time.
(intense music) (objects clattering)
(tense music)
So when I arrived this morning, Ken and all three sons
wanted to get cleaning right away.
Last little push here.
We'd love to get this living room clean today, if we could.
Okay? I know you guys want it probably more than I do.
- Faster, faster, faster.
- When it's full, just hand 'em out.
- Here's one, Priscilla. Go on out.
- Let's go, guys.
(crosstalk) - Food, jars.
- Food? - Careful of the bottom.
- Okay.
(objects clattering)
Where's the glove?
- It went out.
- Oh.
- So the cleaners have just arrived.
They're gonna start cleaning the areas of the house
that we were able to declutter.
Hopefully they can get to some more
by the time we get done with other rooms.
(workers speaking indistinctly) (intense music)
- Here.
- Yup.
The mad rush where the cleaners are doing their job,
we have some staging going on.
We've now finished everything, and we're gonna bring
the family in to see the newly decluttered home.
(intense music)
- Hello, family.
- What do you think?
(tense music)
- Oh, it's wonderful.
- Is this the kitchen? (people laughing)
- [Cory] Lia, how you feeling? Give us one positive.
- There's lots of room.
- [Group] Yay!
- And you got your walker in here. (crosstalk)
- Yeah.
I'm not supposed to be using the walker
any more than I have to. (laughing)
- Lia, I've seen you just literally chuckle twice,
and that is twice more than the entire week.
So I hope that underneath all of this new space and stuff,
there truly is some happiness there.
No one pushed you for any other reason
except for you and Ken to have a better life here,
and a safer life. That's it. - Yes, absolutely.
- I know that, and I appreciate all of you people.
- [Cory] Aw.
- And all of the work you've done.
And I know that it seems like I haven't reacted very well.
- Well, we understand it's stressful.
We do. We truly do. And you guys are worth it.
Great to hear her recognize and say that during the cleanup,
she maybe hadn't been behaving so well,
but that she truly appreciated all the labor of love
that everybody was doing for her.
- Come on in, Lia.
(gentle bright music)
- [Group] Wow.
- So a little different in here too, Lia.
- I haven't seen any of this furniture for years.
(people laughing)
- I've never seen this part of the floor,
ever, in my entire life. (crosstalk)
- You did when you were tiny, but...
- That's where your crib was.
- Yeah, I was in the crib right there.
- And what do you think of the bed you're sitting on?
You don't have to crawl over each other
to get in and out anymore.
- It's gotta be moved this way
so he can get in on the other side.
- Well, he can. There's plenty of room.
- If he could get in before, he can get in now.
(people laughing) Let's be serious.
He just doesn't need a trapeze to do it.
- I can't tell you how relieved we are
that they now have a safe place to live.
Mom played hardball, but in the end,
we got what we needed to get done.
She did good. Very proud of her.
(light music)
- [Speaker] Does this room feel huge?
- [Robin] Mm hmm. - My goodness.
- [Speaker] Just, wow.
- Overall, Lia, what do you think of this room?
Do you see yourself and Ken sitting in here?
- If other people are around.
- Well, now you can
have other people. - But it's nice.
- Yeah.
- The key is, the rooms that your family and Cory
were able to clear out are now livable.
And most importantly, we have resolved the crisis of safety.
- I am so thankful.
I'm not gonna have to make that phone call to the city
or to the state to report the living conditions.
- There is obviously more still to do,
but we are going to be providing you with aftercare,
and there's two pieces to the aftercare.
There's gonna be the therapy,
and then there is an organizer that will continue to come in
and help you sort and hopefully purge
so that the other rooms can become similar to these.
We are so grateful for your love and support, so thank you.
- [Group] Thank you. No, thank you. Thank you guys.
- [Robin] Absolutely.
- I do appreciate everybody's help.
- Thank you, Lia. - Thank you. That means a lot.
- It does. - It does. It does mean a lot.
And Ken, I know you took the lead
and started to make a lot of decisions,
and we thank you for that, because I don't believe
we would be in this place right now
if it wasn't for you also, so thank you.
- We are planning on continuing the cleanup,
getting rid of trash and taking care of things.
Now, I may have to put my foot down again.
She may pout about it. She'll get over it.
- All of you can now spend time
in this newly decluttered home.
- [Cory] Enjoy, you guys. - Fantastic.
- [Group] Thank you so much.
- [Dr. Zazio] Enjoy, okay. - Thank you.
(intense music)
- I'm going to enjoy it, and I know Lia's gonna enjoy it.
It's just gonna take her time to get over the loss.
No more walking sideways.
That is neat.
(gentle music)