As a third-year university student, I lived in a house ridden with damp and mould. I hadn't realised how bad it was until my mum insisted on washing my entire collection of clothes at Christmas.
My rogue landlord simply didn't care. But at the end of my degree, I could walk away from it. I was lucky.
So many others are not so lucky. So many others are living in dangerous accommodation, struggling to get their voices heard, year after year. And so many others are not able to walk away and find somewhere else to live. They're trapped.
READ MORE: A forgotten child in the Greater Manchester flats that are full of fear
Awaab Ishak was just two when he died, his lungs exposed to the damp and grime of a Greater Manchester 'sweatbox' flat. His father had been trying to get the problem of damp and mould resolved even before his son was born.
Awaab suffered health issues during his early life and heartbreakingly didn't live longer than a few days beyond his second birthday.
The thought that damp and mould could take an innocent life - a child so young - is nightmarish. Imagine watching your child's killer stubbornly grow on the walls of your home, knowing you have tried to get rid of it and even filed a claim against your social landlord.
Before Awaab's death, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) had dismissed the mould problem at his home as 'unsightly' but not a risk to health, Rochdale Coroners' Court heard in June.
Inspectors from Rochdale Council seemingly disagreed when they visited the home after Awaab's death - but by then it was too late. The pathologist carrying out Awaab's post-mortem established a clear medical link between the conditions he had been breathing in at home and his death.
Make no mistake - to lose a life in this way is a stain on Greater Manchester.
"Imagine watching your child's killer stubbornly grow on the walls of your home, knowing you have tried to get rid of it."
The fact that other young children have been rushed to hospital from Rochdale's Freehold estate with breathing difficulties is a disgrace. The fact that families are still living in similar conditions on the same estate, battling the same problems Awaab's family did almost two years after his death, is shameful.
Awaab's story rocked me to the core. Yet chillingly, it isn't entirely surprising.
The welfare of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society is neglected in political discourse. The two people vying for 10 Downing Street discuss little else than tax cuts and bogus 'wars on woke'. Even now, with the escalating cost of living crisis hitting more and more people across the country, there is a void in Westminster where there should be action and compassion.
We should be angry that Awaab's life was cut short so cruelly, his potential torn apart, his family bereft. And yet so many others will go to bed tonight, breathing in the same toxic air, trapped with nowhere else to live.
Hearing the stories of children like Gabriel, who was rushed to hospital at just four months old, and the pleas from GPs trying to get their patients a move elsewhere angered me. We must expect better.
I don't doubt that my investigation is only scratching the surface. Tenants' battles with mould have featured in the Manchester Evening News plenty of times before. Last year, I met Janet Pickford, a Stockport pensioner with emphysema and breast cancer who was having to sleep on a bed in her living room because her bedroom was too mouldy.
She told me: "I'm dying and they are doing nothing for me." So many are in the same position today.
The limited amount of social housing that does exist in Greater Manchester should be safe for its residents. Social landlords oversee housing for some of our region's most vulnerable residents - many who are already struggling in a cost of living crisis which is only just getting started. In many cases, housing associations were handed the housing stock from our local authorities, and we should be able to hold them to a higher standard.
There must be action following Awaab's death. I'm relieved to hear RBH says it will inspect every home on the Freehold estate following my investigation, but it worries me deeply how many more families are suffering in silence.
We must not let Awaab Ishak be forgotten.
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