Hoarders Makes Its Way Into the Amarillo Area

Hoarders is a TV Show on A&E that chronicles two days of clean-up of an extreme hoarders home.  They bring in a mental health doctor who specializes in hoarding and a professional organizer along with a ton of people who help clean.  The show made its way into Canyon, Texas for last nights episode.

Jan, was facing eviction from her apartment because she had not taken the trash out since 2006.  Her house was covered in cat feces, and the worst part of the whole episode was the fact she continued to use her bathroom without running water and created a mound of poo in her toilet.

I am not telling you about this episode to judge.  I am telling you about this episode of Hoarders because it is happening in our own backyard.

I watch Hoarders on a weekly basis, I have seen the rat episode, the bunny episode, the chicken episode, the multiple adult diaper episodes and yes even the 13-dead cat episode, however none of them struck me like last nights episode because these people were elsewhere in the world.

Well last night Jan was 15 minutes away from where I am sitting right now.  She is a member of our community.  Her family is a member of our community and it dawned on me, that this not only happens in bigger cities, this happens in our city.

Hoarding isn't just something that someone does because they like to collect stuff, it is something that happens after a incident that occurs in their life, collecting stuff and hoarding is a safe haven.

In fact at the beginning of each show, the definition of hoarding appears on the screen.

Compulsive Hoarding is a mental condition marked by an obsessive need or acquire and keep things, even if the items are worthless, hazardous or unsanitary.

More than 3 million people are compulsive hoarders.

According to an article on the ProNews 7 website there are over 300 people in Amarillo that are hoarders.

Jan is a brave woman, and her family is just as brave because it takes guts to turn your life around and it takes guts to make your trials public for the whole world to see your hidden life.  It takes guts to do this knowing that you will be judged for your actions by other people.

After watching the episode and thinking about it; knowing this family lives here with us and among us, I will no longer look at the episodes of Hoarders in disgust.  I realize that these people have issues bigger than they can handle.

Yes, this woman had a mound of poo in her bathroom and every inch of her house was covered in cat feces, but Jan has issues that caused it and she couldn't fix them on her own.

So kudos to Jan for getting help.

Click Here to watch the episode.