A 22-Year-Old Mother Found A Mushroom On The Ceiling Of Her Own Home

After a massive 20-centimetre mushroom sprouted on their bathroom ceiling, a couple has taken to using face masks in their own house.

Bella Lavin, 22, has also taken her 12-month-old daughter and their cat to live with her mother because she thinks the mushroom is a Coprinopsis picacea, a dangerous fungus.

The mushroom’s growth is attributed by Bella, who also resides with her partner Jordan Burton, to a leak in the apartment above her Cross Heath, Newcastle-under-Lyme, house.

She claims that Aspire Housing’s prolonged removal of the mushroom has negatively affected her mental health and she is dissatisfied by this.

Bella said, ‘It was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I was in floods of tears because I am visiting my daughter—she’s only one; she’s my first baby—and my disabled partner had been feeling ill, and I felt so hopeless. 

‘Aspire is letting people live in places where something like that can be allowed to grow. There are people worse off than me living with top-to-bottom black mould in their flats. It’s a crisis that no one is dealing with head-on.’

Bella added, ‘Since this situation occurred, I’ve been trying to get away as much as I can.

‘I went to visit my daughter and I started to cry as I went to come back because that’s my baby; I want to be able to live with her.

‘Because of this thing, I can’t be her mum, and it hurts me. She’s my baby, and she couldn’t come home.’

Bella and Jordan had waited seven months for the flat. But Bella says she will ‘demand a rehousing’ if the mushroom returns.

She added: ‘I want people to see that this is a reality. I felt like no one was listening to me. People were saying to me, “Why don’t you just rip it out and put bleach on”it?”—but it’s not that simple.’

Aspire Housing’s head of transformation, David Jones, said: ‘We are aware of an issue with damp in Ms Lavin’s home as a result of a leak and have taken steps to resolve this. 

‘Ms Lavin contacted us through our online portal to report a damp and mould issue, and a repair visit was scheduled.

‘Following a phone call to highlight further concerns, we escalated this to an urgent appointment and attended Ms Lavin’s home the next working day, carrying out initial mould treatment works the following day.

‘We have scheduled a further appointment to address any damage from the leak that was identified in the home above and then we will continue to support Ms Lavin until these issues are fully resolved.

‘We understand that problems with damp and mould can be very worrying, so we would encourage customers to report these issues as soon as they are identified. 

‘We are dedicated to providing safe, decent homes and want all our customers to feel at ease in their homes.’

No matter how well she cleans it, the persistent issue appears to be a result of a leak. In addition to creating health issues, the mould problem should also be investigated by the council to see whether there is a ventilation issue. Although the council does not think that this is their concern, they do have a duty of care.

Household sprays and bleach will not reach this kind of mould, and spores can emerge through cracks and holes. The leak is from the flat above. This woman could have dealt with part of the problem, but with a baby she needed the underlying cause fixed as well.