A seven-year-old girl with end-stage kidney failure and her family have been forced to live without heating or hot water since before Christmas.
Meghan Colana undergoes around 12 hours of dialysis every day as she awaits a transplant and is due for surgery to remove her second kidney on Wednesday.
Her family found their boiler was no longer working on 21 December but despite contacting their local council for help, weeks later they are still living in the cold while the UK faces a week of sub-zero temperatures.
Avanna says her sister doesn’t understand what is going— (Avanna Colana)
“Initially we waited a week for them to come over to the house to see what was going on,” Meghan’s older sister, Avanna, 19, told The Independent. “They completely took the hot water out on the 28th, and we’ve been without it ever since.”
Have you experienced similar problems? Email maira.butt@independent.co.uk
While the family says three visits were carried out to their south London home to rectify the issue, they said there was “no communication” around the repairs, leaving them in limbo during a very difficult period.
Southwark councillor Darren Merrill, cabinet member for council homes, said a new boiler was due to be installed imminently.
The family celebrated christmas, new year and Meghan’s birthday without heating or hot water— (Avanna Colana)
“We have responded as quickly as possible to fit a new boiler in the family’s property, the parts were ordered last week and we have diverted staff to complete this one as our top priority,” he said. “The new boiler will be installed within the next 24 hours and I send Meghan and her family all of our best wishes for good health this year.”
However, Liz Wyatt, a coordinator for Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth who has regularly liaised on behalf of the family with Southwark Council, said it wasn’t good enough. The organisation shared a tweet on Tuesday to raise awareness of the issue but they say it shouldn’t be forced to post on Twitter to prompt to action.
“We’re extremely concerned at Southwark Council’s inability to complete these emergency repairs, the delays the family have faced and the very unclear communication.
“This should be top priority for Southwark Council to fix and to make sure the housing is habitable especially when there is an extremely vulnerable young child in the property.
“It points to a wider problem of a lack of funding in social housing, but that is no excuse.”
Avanna, who has exams on Thursday, says the experience has been very difficult for the family, who have had to celebrate Meghan’s birthday, Christmas and New Year without any heating or hot water.
“She sometimes asks why we have it different to other people,” said Avanna. “But she’s too young to understand. We have to boil water in pans and use jugs to bathe ourselves. We were given an electric heater but it’s very expensive and it only warms the room up for half an hour before you have to switch it off again.”
In addition to the boiler issues, the family reports leaks in Meghan’s bedroom which they have urged the council to look into. They were told on Tuesday afternoon that this would also be followed up.
