No heating or hot water for 7-year-old London girl on dialysis as she awaits kidney transplant

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A seven-year-old girl with end-stage kidney failure and her household have been pressured to stay with out heating or hot water since earlier than Christmas.

Meghan Colana undergoes round 12 hours of dialysis on daily basis as she awaits a transplant and is due for surgical procedure to take away her second kidney on Wednesday.

Her household discovered their boiler was not working on 21 December however regardless of contacting their native council for assist, weeks later they’re nonetheless residing within the chilly whereas the UK faces every week of sub-zero temperatures.

“Initially we waited a week for them to come over to the house to see what was going on,” Meghan’s older sister, Avanna, 19, informed The Independent. “They completely took the hot water out on the 28th, and we’ve been without it ever since.”

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While the household says three visits had been carried out to their south London house to rectify the problem, they stated there was “no communication” across the repairs, leaving them in limbo throughout a really troublesome interval.

Southwark councillor Darren Merrill, cupboard member for council properties, stated a brand new boiler was as a result of be put in imminently.

“We have responded as quickly as possible to fit a new boiler in the family’s property, the parts were ordered last week and we have diverted staff to complete this one as our top priority,” he stated. “The new boiler will be installed within the next 24 hours and I send Meghan and her family all of our best wishes for good health this year.”

However, Liz Wyatt, a coordinator for Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth who has usually liaised on behalf of the household with Southwark Council, stated it wasn’t adequate. The organisation shared a tweet on Tuesday to lift consciousness of the problem however they are saying it shouldn’t be pressured to put up on Twitter to immediate to motion.

“We’re extremely concerned at Southwark Council’s inability to complete these emergency repairs, the delays the family have faced and the very unclear communication.

“This should be top priority for Southwark Council to fix and to make sure the housing is habitable especially when there is an extremely vulnerable young child in the property.

“It points to a wider problem of a lack of funding in social housing, but that is no excuse.”

Avanna, who has exams on Thursday, says the expertise has been very troublesome for the household, who’ve needed to have a good time Meghan’s birthday, Christmas and New Year with none heating or hot water.

“She sometimes asks why we have it different to other people,” stated Avanna. “But she’s too young to understand. We have to boil water in pans and use jugs to bathe ourselves. We were given an electric heater but it’s very expensive and it only warms the room up for half an hour before you have to switch it off again.”

In addition to the boiler points, the household studies leaks in Meghan’s bed room which they’ve urged the council to look into. They had been informed on Tuesday afternoon that this is able to even be adopted up.