Mum and kids living with mould desperate to leave home after son stops breathing

A single mum living in a council property covered in mould is pleading with the council to move her after her son was put on a critical care plan for his asthma last week.

Cheryl Mendez, 49, lives in a council owned property in Foss Avenue, Croydon, with her three children Eloise Mendez, 11, Emmanuel Mendez, seven, and Isaachar Mendez, three. 

Ms Mendez and her children all suffer from asthma – a condition known to be linked to damp and mould – and rely on inhalers to breathe.

Ms Mendez said her three-year-old son, Isaachar, is now on a critical care plan after he stopped breathing on three occasions in the past week.

A critical care plan means that Isaachar needs to be constantly monitored and Ms Mendez has to call the hospital if he loses consciousness or stops breathing. 

She said: “When he stops breathing he goes floppy and unconscious. I have to stay up every night to watch my children and make sure they are breathing.

“It’s not just Isaachar, it’s Eloise too – her asthma has been triggered again. It’s deadly that they are putting us through this. 

“I just want my children to be in a house where they can breathe, with no mould and damp.”

Ms Mendez said she has shown her housing officer letters from her GP that recommend she is moved from the property as its conditions are exacerbating the children’s health issues – they have not been moved and the mould has not been properly treated.

South London Press reported on Ms Mendez’s housing situation on November 15, when she explained she had been living with mice infestations, asbestos, damp, the smell of sewage, and black mould that is making their asthma worse, since 2017.

On Thursday the council moved Ms Mendez and her children into a hotel after the underlying smell of sewage suddenly overwhelmed the property.

Ms Mendez said: “They told us they would inspect the property – there must be a burst sewage pipe because every time someone flushes the chain the whole house smells of sewage.”

This morning, Ms Mendez attended the inspection.

She said: “They walked in and said they could smell it but it wasn’t very strong anymore so there wasn’t anything they could do.

“Now we have to move back in, with the mould and the damp and the sewage smell.

“They are waiting for something disastrous to happen. I know everything will only get worse.”

This is not the first time Ms Mendez has lived in a council home with black mould.

In 2016 the council moved her and her children into a property that was covered from the inside out in mould.

She said: “It was the same time that Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah died from an asthma attack and I’d been taking my daughter to the doctors constantly because of her breathing and she had puss in her eyes. I was scared.

“The year after my son had an allergic reaction to the mold on his skin and it came up in a huge rash.

“Then they moved me out of one property into another with all the same issues.”

Croydon council has been approached for comment.

Pictured top: Front from Left, Isaachar Mendez, Emmanuel Mendez, Back from Left, Eloise Mendez, Cheryl Mendez (Picture: Cheryl Mendez)