Tradies band together to save family from black mould nightmare

A group of local tradies have banded together to give a family in Geelong’s north the ultimate gift.

The tradies who helped rebuild the Bridge house for free. From left: Charlie Debono from Charlie’s Mowing and Maintenance, Dulux Trade’s Geelong territory manager Mus Erkul, director of Axon Plastering Anthony Axon, and Colin Reid, owner of CJ Reid Painting. Picture: Alison Wynd.

A group of local tradies have banded together to help a Lara family who’s son became sick due to a black mould infestation.

A local plasterer, painter, supplier, electrician and builder have joined forces to help the Bridge family fix their mould ridden home free of charge before Christmas.

Anthony Axon from Axon Plastering said he received a call for help from a family member after reading about their plight in the Geelong Advertiser.

“I got a call from my sister, just to see if we can help out,” he said.

“Being a parent of two young boys myself, whenever you hear about kids getting sick you want to band together and do what you can.

“So I’ve got to thank the whole team from Axon Plastering, plus the boys from Plaster Max for supplying the installation, and Steve from Steve’s Inso who installed it all for us.

“It’s great to help the community.”

The rest of the crew include Colin Reid from CJ Reid Painting, Mus Erkul from Dulux Paints, Charlie Debono from Charlie’s Mowing and Maintenance, Sephen Hartney from Steve’s Inso and Brad Molloy and the Plastermax team.

Janelle Bridge said they were all “truly angels”.

“This is literally going to save us thousands of dollars that, quite frankly, we don’t have,” she said.

“The kindness has left us speechless and stunned.”

Janelle’s teenage son, Seb, has been eating through his nose using a specially-fitted tube in recent weeks due to toxic mould inhalation.

He 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.

The silent killer was originally located behind the plaster and subfloor in a bathroom earlier this year, but was found to be riddled throughout the property.

Their roof has come off and all walls exposed, leaving a massive repair bill.

Originally published as Tradies band together to save family from black mould nightmare