A young mum claims the mould in her home is the cause for her baby girl's breathing issues. Chloe Bradbery lives with her eight-month-old daughter Arabella.
Her baby has been to the hospital three times with breathing problems. She lives in a home owned by a housing provider called Derwent Living, and says she has contacted them about the issue.
20-year-old Chloe says she first noticed the mould when it began covering the ceiling of her bedroom and bathroom. The landlord representatives told her to spray it with mould cleaner, and to contact them again if it came back.
She moved in while still pregnant in February this year, and gave birth in March. When the mum moved in she had no idea there was any issues with mould.
Arabella was she was less than two months old, she started struggling to breathe and Chloe rang an ambulance. Arabella was taken to hospital and given oxygen, doctors diagnosed her with bronchiolitis. According to the NHS, Bronchiolitis is a chest infection that affects babies and children under two.
It's usually mild and can be treated at home, but it can be serious. The early symptoms of bronchiolitis are similar to a cold, such as sneezing, a runny or blocked nose, a cough and a slightly high temperature of 38C.
Arabella got better and came back home but the mould returned. Chloe contacted Derwent Living again, who sent some people out to assess it and apply more spray, but it came back again “tenfold” the mum claims.
Just one month later Arabella was rushed to hospital once again, as she started 'choking in her sleep'. She wasn't able to eat and was put on a feeding tube and given oxygen.
Speaking exclusively to Derbyshire Live, Chloe said: Chloe said: “It was just horrible to have to see my daughter put on oxygen. It was so scary. I genuinely thought at one point she was going to die. If your baby is sucking in, they’re struggling for air. She was struggling so hard to breathe.
“We stayed at my mum's for two nights afterwards as we didn’t want to go back. It’s traumatising for her as well, because in order to give her the feeding tube they have to pin her down while she’s screaming.”
A third, terrifying episode in November led to Chloe seeing more advice. A doctor then issued a letter which she could provide to Derwent Living.
It said: "Arabella has presented to Children's ED on 20/11/22 with a third episode of bronchiolitis. This is a respiratory disorder. I understand from Arabella's mother that there is a mould and damp issue at home. I would be grateful if you could assist the family with management of this. Mould and damp can be contributors to respiratory illness in children."
Chloe rang Derwent Living again and offered to send them a copy of the letter, but says she was told they “didn’t need it.”
Arabella’s episodes had slowed over summer as the weather grew warmer and the mould dissipated. But when the weather turned again just a few weeks ago, it returned in huge quantities, with the bedroom ceiling then leaking badly and water droplets hanging off the ceiling.
She was told she’d receive a visit from Derwent Living in January, but when Derbyshire Live got involved, representatives were sent out on Monday, December 12, to look into the problem.
Chloe said: “I’m terrified that it’s going to get worse. That she’s going to get bronchiolitis and it’s just going to take it all out of her. I don’t know how much more those lungs can take. They’re only little. You don’t know if she’s going to be alright this time or whether it’s going to get worse.
“If they’d sorted this all out earlier, it might not’ve got to this point. She might not’ve had to go through everything she has. They told me they couldn’t rush any because there’s so many houses they need to look at. But you’d expect better. I first rang in February. I just feel like we’ve been forgotten. You’d expect them to do something when they know there’s a baby ill in the house.”
Chloe’s resorted to moving her’s and her daughter’s beds to the middle of the room - the only place in which they can avoid water dripping on them from the leaking corners in the night. She’s been told to keep her windows open to try and ventilate the rooms to eradicate the mould - but fears exposing Arabella to the cold winter temperatures will put her in danger again.
While demonstrating where the mould is located in her flat, Chloe notices a new significant damp spot above the shelf in her wardrobe.
“It gets better every day,” she says, sarcastically. A neighbour reports that the entire block has had similar issues with mould, to the point where the roof of the entire building was replaced a few years ago. It has solved their issues.
But Chloe has been in the attic of her flat and says she’s noticed light coming through the roof. She says that no-one has ever been up there to look at it when they’ve been round. The neighbour also says that the previous two tenants of Chloe’s flat moved out due to damp and mould.
A spokesperson for Derwent Living said: "Getting the right outcome for Miss Bradbery and her daughter is the most important thing and we are working closely with Miss Bradbery on this. Following her initial call to us, we visited her home on 28 November and scheduled in her follow-up repairs for as soon as we could, based on our assessment of the work needed on that date.
"However, following our visit on 28 November the situation at Miss Bradbery’s home escalated so to address immediate concerns, we tried to visit Miss Bradbury’s home on Friday and spoke to her that afternoon. We also offered a move for Miss Bradbury to a different property, which she doesn’t want to do. We visited today (Monday, December 12) and are in the process of rectifying the issues. Miss Bradbury is happy with this. "
