Doctors dubbed an eight-year-old the ‘unluckiest child in the world’ after she contracted a severe infection from living in a moldy home, which caused her throat to be filled with ‘decaying flesh.’
Sienna Santiago first became ill on March 20, 2019, after her family relocated to the Tiwi Islands in 2017 for her father’s profession and moved into a Northern Territory Police residence.
Sienna’s father, Stephen Thomson, said the tiny girl was transported to the hospital three days after complaining of sickness and underwent life-saving surgery, which left her in the intensive care unit for 11 days.
He informed NT News that his epiglottis (a portion of the throat that prevents food from entering the lungs) was swelled and nearly closed up entirely.
‘There was a grey-green-brown fluff all around the epiglottis, like decomposing flesh.’
The family had only been in the police house for two years when they discovered it was entirely coated in mold.
The family had only been in the police house for two years when they discovered it was entirely coated in mold.
The family battled for a year to remove the mold, but it constantly reappeared two weeks after they swept it away.
After the mold began to take over the family’s furniture and clothes, as well as the home’s walls, Mr Thomson filed his initial complaint with NT Police in May 2018.
Other police stations in the neighborhood, he claimed, were also moldy.
What makes me sick to my stomach is, from what I’m told, the mould infestations were completely out of his control yet completely avoidable. It was photographed and reported for years.
‘We have to protect our protectors. Whilst I only have one side of the story, I’m astounded at what appears to be a series of serious systemic failures of compliance with legislation.’
‘We have to take our health and safety duty seriously. It is legislated for a reason.
‘It is a testament to Stephen and his family’s courage that he continues to raise this despite having both his career and family apparently written off.’
NT WorkSafe said it had reopened Mr Thomson’s case after new evidence revealed NT Police allegedly knew of mould issues in the home before Sienna was hospitalised.