Lara family forced to gut home and move out over toxic black-mould infestation

A Geelong boy is eating through his nose using a specially fitted tube due to toxic mould inhalation, with his distraught parents forced to gut and vacate their family home.

Janelle Bridge among the shower repairs. Lara teenager Sebastian Bridge is battling a rare health condition caused by mould in his family home that his family discovered by chance in June. Picture: Alan Barber

A Geelong schoolboy is eating through his nose using a specially fitted tube due to toxic mould inhalation, with his distraught parents forced to gut and vacate their family home.

Lara teenager Seb Bridge, 13, has spent three weeks in the Royal Children’s Hospital after suffering further complications from a rare auto-immune disorder triggered by a black-mould infestation hiding behind the walls of his house.

The silent killer was originally located behind the plaster and subfloor in a bathroom earlier this year, resulting in a Crohn’s disease diagnosis and impaired liver function.

His parents, Janelle and Daniel, have now revealed the extent of the problem has caused them to move out and destroy clothes and furniture after he became unwell again.

Janelle, Sebastian and Daniel Bridge. Lara teenager Sebastian Bridge is battling a rare health condition caused by mould in his family home that his family discovered by chance in June. Picture: Alan Barber

“We came home after we fixed the bathroom but he started going downhill,” Ms Bridge said.

“So we air sampled the entire house and found it was full of it.

“As soon as we found out we had to leave, we packed all our stuff and left.”

The Lara Secondary College student’s dangerous illness, affecting the lining of the digestive tract, is being monitored by doctors at his grandparents’ house.

He has been fitted with a nasogastric tube that carries food and medication to the stomach through the nasal passages.

He suffers from chronic inflammatory response syndrome due to his exposure to the mould, with his stomach inflamed as his body releases the deadly toxins from his liver.

A black mould infestation found in the home of Lara mum Janelle Bridge has made her son chronically ill. Photo: Supplied.

“We’ve gutted the whole house and everything we owned inside it, we had to get rid of, it has all been thrown out,” his mum, 38, said.

Their home is undergoing a full renovation to rid it of the infestation, with the couple attempting to draw funds from their superannuation to finance the repairs.

The bedrooms where Seb and his parents sleep were found to have more than 15 times the normal mould range.

“I’ve been so tired and foggy for a long time, along with my husband, and now we know why,” she said.

“We were not prepared for it and have been lucky to be able to move in with our folks until we sort it out.

“It has been quite traumatic.”

The family raised a few thousand dollars from a special fundraiser held for their son at The Sphinx Hotel in October, and a GoFundMe is still active.

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Originally published as Lara family forced to gut home and move out over toxic black-mould infestation