‘Me and my baby are being killed by MOULD’: Docs refuse to let pregnant mum go home because of rising damp risk
Mum-to-be stranded in hospital as her flat is infected with killer fungus
PREGNANT Margaret Stirling is stranded in hospital after docs warned returning to her mould-infested home could kill her and her unborn baby.
The severely asthmatic mum is recovering from a life-or-death battle after exposure to deadly black fungus on her bedroom wall made her lungs shut down.
Two months before her due date, she is living in temporary digs at a maternity unit while her GP pleads with a council to rehouse her.
Margaret — mum to Liam, five — told last night of her family’s six- year nightmare in their damp flat in Muirkirk, Ayrshire.
She said: “It’s an absolute disgrace. Before we even moved in we were told they would sort it and now look what’s happened.
“I’d had asthma since I was a child but it got progressively worse ever since I moved into that house.
“I’d felt unwell for a week or two before but I had no idea how bad it could be.
“There was virtually no chance of surviving and I could have lost my baby.
“If I’d been in the house that night myself and my lungs had failed I wouldn’t have been here today.
"I can’t bear to think of my wee boy not having a mum. I’m still in shock — I’m lucky to be alive.”
Margaret, 26, collapsed at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock on March 31 after she was rushed there suffering severe breathing difficulties.
Her condition went downhill rapidly and she was flown by air ambulance with a medical team of surgeons and nurses to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, where she spent a month in intensive care.
She was so ill she was given the same specialist treatment to pump oxygen into her blood that swine flu victims got in the 2009 epidemic, in a bid to help her lungs recover.
Her partner Steven Livingston, 27, said: “She was in a life-or-death situation.
“There was that much medical equipment that the helicopter was too small and they had to use a medical plane.”
After her miracle fightback, she has been forced to spend two weeks in the maternity unit at Crosshouse Hospital as going home is too risky.
Steven added: “I won’t let Margaret come back here because something worse could happen to her or our baby.”
Her worried GP Dr Caroline Smith told East Ayrshire Council in a letter she needs alternative accommodation as a “matter of urgency”.
Margaret said workers have visited the two-bedroom flat five times since 2010 to tackle the rising damp, but it keeps returning.
Despite repeated requests to move, and the GP’s letter, the family fear they are getting nowhere.
Seven months pregnant Margaret has been warned her baby is likely to be born premature.
Her mum, Karen Stirling, 46, claims she was hospitalised after spending a night in the damp bedroom. She said: “To think my daughter almost died before me is every parent’s worst nightmare.
“I was in hospital after taking ill five years ago — that was after just one night there.
“I just wish the council had fixed the problem long ago.”
East Ayrshire’s Housing and Communities chief Katie Kelly said: “We were sorry to learn our tenants had gone to the Press on this matter, as we have agreed repairs to dampness from May 17-20.
“To minimise the inconvenience we also agreed for furniture and fixtures in the room be removed.
“We hope to have another meeting with the tenants to see how best we can resolve their concerns.
“We are giving urgent and sympathetic consideration to the request for a change of property.”
HAZARD AT HOME LURKS IN THE DARK
RISING damp is caused by a fungus which thrives in cold, dark and damp areas.
Children and people with breathing complaints are most at risk from its effects.
Kenny Macmillan, of mould treatment firm Aqua Clean, said: “If it’s treated with the wrong chemicals, such as bleach, those with respiratory problems can become even more hypersensitive to it.
“Initially, hot, soapy water is the best way to deal with mould growth, then by the use of a specialist anti-mould product.”
LUNG TISSUE THREAT
By Dr CAROL COOPER
A DAMP home could lead to serious problems if fungi like aspergillus take hold in lungs.
This can creating a ball of fungus that can compress or invade into normal tissue.
Large cavities can even form in the lung as a result. Some people develop allergy to fungi as well, which can lead to severe asthma.
Drugs can treat infections but where lungs are very damaged patients may need artificial ventilation as a life-saving measure.
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