MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. - After mounting health problems have left him tied to his Madeira Beach home, Bill Nelson says he just found out he won’t be getting a dollar from BP for illnesses he says he contracted as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. 

Nelson spent six months at the site of the BP oil spill assisting with the cleanup. As a boat captain for Borderlon Marine, he says he was called upon to help with the cleanup efforts. 

What Nelson says ruined his lungs permanently was a toxic chemical used in the cleanup process. 

“You could feel it burn your lungs,” he said. “We were told we didn’t need respirators because it was in the water.” 

The longtime Madeira Beach resident says over the last decade since returning from the oil spill, he has racked up over $7 million in hospital bills. Nelson says his lungs are scarred and he’s been on a ventilator 47 times. 

“Even Windex will send me into respiratory failure,” he said. 

Last week, Nelson says his lawyer informed him that despite his failing health, none of his medical bills will be compensated by BP because he didn’t have a documented diagnosis until a few years ago.

“I don’t know what to do, I’m about at my wits end,” he said. 

Nelson says as his lungs are failing so is his hope. Before the oil spill, he says he was a healthy boat captain with a love for life. Now, he can barely leave his house. 

He filed a lawsuit, alongside thousands of others, years ago in an attempt to get compensated by BP to learn his quest has fallen short. 

“It’s all about the almighty dollar,” he said.

Given the current oil spill cleanup on the west coast, Nelson hopes that those workers take proper precautions and document all illnesses so the same thing doesn’t happen to them. 

Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to the claims administrator for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and has not received comment.