‘I was hospitalised for a week due to mould in my damp ho...

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‘I was hospitalised for a week due to mould in my damp house’

The Royal College of Physicians warn air pollution will contribute to the equivalent of 30,000 deaths in the UK in 2025

Rebecca WhittakerTuesday 25 November 2025 09:38 GMTComments

open image in galleryLisa Malyon, 42, and her daughter Phoebe, 10, both suffered chest infections after living in a damp home (cdmillerphotos)

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Living in a damp property left a mother and her baby daughter battling constant chest infections and struggling to breathe.

Lisa Malyon found her health drastically deteriorated over the course of two years until her lungs “couldn’t cope” and she found herself struggling to walk up the stairs.

The 42-year-old collapsed with chest pain and was rushed to hospital where she spent five days recovering from pneumonia.

“It was horrible. I just didn’t know if I was going to survive,” Ms Malyon told the Independent.

The now mother-of-three moved into a property near Sutton, South London, with her partner Richard and daughter Phoebe in 2015 and almost immediately noticed a “musty smell”.

“Every morning all the windows were dripping in condensation which would dribble down onto the carpet,” Ms Malyon recalled. “All of our belongings were very stinky and everything would get mildew on it. I was just throwing stuff away.”

Ms Malyon recalls buying a mould remover every week and spraying it directly onto the damp carpets and plasterboard - little did she know the product was making the problem worse.

Lisa moved into a property near Sutton, South London, with her partner Richard and daughter Phoebe in 2015 and almost immediately noticed a “musty smell” caused by damp

open image in galleryLisa moved into a property near Sutton, South London, with her partner Richard and daughter Phoebe in 2015 and almost immediately noticed a “musty smell” caused by damp (Lisa Malyon)

“It was feeding the mould and further contaminating our air and spreading the microscopic mould spores, fragments, and volatile organic compounds to other areas of the house for us all to inhale,” she said.

After living in the property for two years Ms Malyon and her daughter started to suffer from repeated chest infections, fatigue and breathlessness.

Eventually Ms Malyon became so ill she collapsed and was hospitalised with pneumonia in January 2020 at St Helier Hospital, in Sutton, Surrey where a CT scan revealed a lump on her chest.

“Doctors said they hadn’t seen this sort of mass in somebody of my age who doesn’t smoke before,” she said.

“They initially thought the mass on my lung may be cancer, but it was a fungal infection,” she added.

After years of ill health Ms Malyon realised her house was causing her chest infections, brain fog, and fatigue and the family decided to move.

“My health immediately recovered. I haven't had a chest infection since we left the house,” she said.

But living in a damp property has had a lasting impact on her and her daughter’s health.

Phoebe lived in the property while her lungs were still developing and she now needs an inhaler morning and night to prevent chest infections.

open image in galleryPhoebe lived in the property while her lungs were still developing and she now needs an inhaler morning and night to prevent chest infections. (Lisa Malyon)

“I have chemical sensitivity, I can't go into the local library with my children because it's part of the leisure centre and if I smell chlorine gas, it sets me off,” she explained.

Because her daughter Phoebe, now aged 10 years, lived in the property while her lungs were still developing she now needs an inhaler morning and night to prevent chest infections.

Now Ms Malyon campaigns to improve indoor air quality in homes and explains indoor air pollution can be caused by mould, cleaning sprays, candles, wood burners, perfumes and even creams.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) are calling for the government to launch a UK-wide public health campaign on air pollution.

The college says the campaign should cover the factors that adversely affect air quality indoors and outdoors – from pollutants from vehicles and wood burning, to damp and mould.

Air pollution affects almost every organ in the human body. It has significant health impacts even at low concentrations, including on foetal development, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke, mental health conditions and dementia.

According to the RCP’s A Breath of Fresh Air report, air pollution will contribute to the equivalent of 30,000 deaths in the UK in 2025 and cost the economy more than £27 billion annually.

But a YouGov poll revealed about a third of UK adults do not think air pollution poses a risk to their health.

Professor Sir Stephen Holgate CBE, the RCP’s special adviser on air quality and health, said: “Air quality isn’t just an environmental issue, it is a public health emergency. The government must launch a national campaign to help people understand the risks they face and take action to reduce them.”

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) spokesperson said: “Air pollution is a public health issue, and we are taking action to tackle it across the country.

“We have provided Local Authorities with £575 million since 2018 to improve air quality, and we continue to work with them to cut harmful emissions and reduce everyone’s exposure to air pollution.”