A mum-of-two is trapped as a “prisoner” in her own home due to “toxic mould” so bad it attracts hordes of flies and left her living a “nightmare”.
Melissa Taylor lives in Hemsworth, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, with her partner Gareth Dawson and two young sons.
But instead of enjoying the perfect family home, the 34-year-old mum said that she lives through a “nightmare” where her house reeks because of the mould, and is full of clouds of flies.
Any pleas for help they claim have been ignored by Wakefield and District Housing who "fobbed" her off. Although it had now promised to help.
She claimed that the mould in the house has left her struggling to speak without breaking out coughing and spluttering, and fearing she might end up in hospital - for the second time.
Back in 2010, when pregnant with her youngest son, Corey-James Taylor-Dawson, she said that the mould was so bad it left her in hospital, where she was diagnosed with bronchitis.
Now the mum said that she lives in fear she will see it all happen again. She said: “I'm terrified of being put back in hospital, it's my nightmare, my fear is I'm going to die.”
Speaking to The Mirror, the mum revealed the horrors she said she wakes up to every day.
She said her mental health has been left in tatters and the mum confessed she’s struggled with suicidal thoughts and even admitted feeling like she’d felt like the house had robbed her children of a “proper childhood”.
She said: “I haven't been able to run around and play with them as much as I should, and feel like they would be better off without me. They can never get that time back.
“I haven’t got any quality of life. I wheeze and cough up phlegm a lot … it’s stopped me from going out.
“I’m not living. It’s this 24/7. I live in my bedroom because I can’t go into the rest of the house … I’m a prisoner in my own home.”
She said flies often crawl across her skin when she sleeps, and the mould is so bad throughout the house she is forced to live almost solely in her bedroom.
Alongside that is - what she describes as - the stomach-churning smell which plagues the house as a result of the mould.
Melissa said: “When you open the front door, the smell hits you, it's awful. I can't invite friends over, I don't think they'd want to come in because of the smell and I'm not sure I'd want anyone in.
“At first I thought the flies were just around in the summer but they've not gone away and gotten worse with the latest leak.
“They're attracted to the damp and get into the food and crawl all over me when I try to sleep.”
Melissa said that the family had previously struggled with mould across the house, but things really took a turn for the worse last month when a growing leak in the kitchen ceiling caused a hole.
She said that the leak spread to the downstairs toilet and living room and they said the mould itself had spread across the entire ceiling and down some walls.
But when contractors sent by Wakefield and District Housing came, the mum accused them of doing a “botch” job by just plugging the hole and not dealing with the mould it caused, because it wasn’t visible.
She said one of the walls downstairs had been “crumbling away” because of the growing damp and mould, so they pulled a bit off to prove to the social housing provider how widespread it was.
She claimed it revealed a sickening spread of the mould that infected the family home.
Melissa said they had repeatedly begged and pleaded with WDH to help them and make the house liveable again but found themselves stuck in their hellish conditions.
She said they repeatedly said they would deal with the problem, but never did. Things got so bad, she said Gareth even took a bit of the mould to WDH's central office.
Martyn Shaw, Executive Director of Technical Services at WDH said: “We have been made aware of the issues at Miss Taylor’s property and are sorry that her home is causing her such distress following the leak.
"We are eager to resolve the issues, and are pleased to have already agreed the next steps with the customer to fully inspect the walls and ceilings for signs of mould, and make the necessary repairs as soon as we can, to get her home back up to a high standard.”
The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.
