S03 · E05

Laura and Penny

Laura has terminal cancer and is in fragile health, but sleeping or resting is nearly impossible. The only open spot she can lay her head on is two-thirds of the living room couch. It's a couch surrounded by plastic bins, toys, boxes, scrap-book and crafts supplies, rotting furniture, magazines, and a carpet stained by cat urine. Laura's hoarding has greatly strained her relationship with her husband and daughters. She knows this is her last chance to unburden her family and give them back a home free of her clutter and misery. Penny is a 44-year-old single mom of two. Her three-bedroom home is so hoarded that her toddler son has been forced to sleep with her on the living room couch. Her refrigerator doesn't work and there's a terrible smell in her older