A single mother whose 16-year old son has been dogged by illness since he started at CedarBridge Academy told this week how she feared the cause was mould but could not afford to send him to another school.

The woman contacted The Royal Gazette after reading about an independent probe into the mould crisis at the school which concluded that at least 14 students were “very probably” made sick because of the indoor environment. Her son - who is not being identified by this newspaper - has suffered repeated headaches and chest problems since starting at the Island’s largest public school two years ago.

He collapsed at the Devonshire campus earlier this year - on the day students protested about the air quality - and was taken to hospital for tests which proved inconclusive.

His mother said: “By the time I got up there and came to the other side of the school he was down on the ground. He scared a lot of teachers, a lot of people. He was really out of it.”

She said her son was always active and only began suffering ill health when he joined CedarBridge. “Ever since my son started at the school my boy has been sick, sick, sick,” she said.

“One day he said: ‘I just feel like taking my head and banging it against a wall because I’m tired of headaches’.

“In February or March he was home for a week with headaches. He feels fine when he’s not at school. I can’t keep him up there to keep getting sick. They have got to do something about it. My son said when he was in S1 (senior one) he used to wipe mould off his books.”

The mother-of-two, from Hamilton Parish, is reluctant to move her son to the Berkeley Institute as she is unsure if it offers the learning support he requires. “My child is going to public school because I can’t afford private school,” she said. “I can’t afford him going to home school. He’s like: ‘I can’t stay up there another two years being sick like this. I say: ‘I know that’. I don’t know what we are going to do. We are looking at schools in the States, boarding schools.”

Another mother told this newspaper she was desperate for her daughter to graduate next month because of persistent ill health. The 17-year-old - whose identity is also being withheld to protect her privacy - has been given an asthma pump by her doctor but it has had no effect.

“She was getting sick on and off and we were thinking she had flu,” said the woman. “She was getting shortness of breath and stuff but she didn’t tell me for a long time. Now we think it could be the mould.”

The woman said she was unaware of the independent probe into the mould crisis until she read about it in this newspaper. The panel which conducted the inquiry spoke to 16 children, 14 of whom had health concerns.

“I’m sure there’s a lot more children up there that are sick,” said the mother. “What worries me is that they have to have 97 percent to graduate. My daughter has 93 percent because of this sickness. I’m waiting to hear if she can graduate.

“She has a cousin at the school who has been to hospital twice with vomiting and her chest hurting a lot. Every time she goes to the hospital they don’t know what’s wrong.”

She added: “I would just like to see them get this mess cleared up because we don’t want a whole lot of students sick. It’s a scary thing to not be able to breathe properly. I think more parents should come forward and speak up and say: ‘My child has been sick’ but I honestly believe those who do will be treated differently.”

A Ministry of Education spokeswoman said: “Students who are set to graduate will not have any absences due to illness held against their 97 percent attendance requirement - only unexcused absences. Therefore parents who have expressed this concern pertaining to IAQ (indoor air quality) illnesses have nothing to worry about.”

Government closed CedarBridge in November and ordered a cleanup which eventually cost about $4 million. The school reopened in January since when there have been further claims of illness. It is still not known for definite whether any of the staff or student sickness at the school has been caused by the environment.