She could die. She doesnt understand, and she doesnt know how she got it or why she got it. And no one is doing anything to help me. No one should feel that hopeless. Yet its a way of life for millions of parents. Their children fighting for life and every breath. Despite your best efforts, you couldnt protect her. Yes. Its your kids. Sorry. Its your kids. Yeah. And heres the real shocker. These kids may not have to be sick. Go in there and say, listen. Im not livin like this. This is my house. For nearly two years, dateline has been investigating the disease that sends more children to hospitals than any other chronic illness, asthma. I cant breathe surprisingly, a leading cause is poverty. Its a tale of two cities, the haves and havenots. So three times higher chance behind you . Kids growing up city blocks apart from each other. Our undercover cameras take you inside the battle. How it can be won. You can see the mold is back. Boy, it is everywhere. And why were losing. Everybodys got a breaking point. Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Tonight, breathless. My mommy says that when i cough, i go on my asthma pump. Reporter imagine living a life tied to a machine. Imagine struggling for air as you play, walk or even sleep. Imagine fearing that your next breath may be your last. Welcome to the world of 6yearold amanda santos. I cant breathe. I cant breathe. Okay. All right. I know youre tired. Reporter amanda is one of 7 million children in the u. S. Who suffer from asthma. But there is Something Different about her disease. She and hundreds of thousands of others like her are more likely to develop, more likely to be hospitalized for, more likely to die of asthma than other children. I cant breathe i cant breathe reporter nearly a year and a half ago as part of the nbc news in plain Sight Initiative which reports on poverty in america and is supported by the ford foundation, i along with a team of dateline investigative producers set out to find out why those kids are more at risk, up close and undercover. And you may be outraged by what we discovered. I certainly was. Because this is a story not just about asthma. Its about how the illness is made worse by neglect and incompetence in the very places where asthma rages most of all. Im sitting in amandas apartment in new york at the Kitchen Table where time and time again shes been strapped to this medical device called a nebulizer, trying to ward off yet another asthma attack. And the painful truth is, it should have never come to this. For amandas mom, roseanna, it all began on a cold day almost two years ago when her daughter had her first asthma attack. I got to the back, and thats when he told me, you know, he was, like, i dont want to scare you, but thank god you brought your daughter because she could have died last night. Reporter do you remember the feeling of when you heard the word asthma for the first time . The doctor said, amanda has asthma . Thats something that no parent wants to hear. None of my kids had asthma, so i didnt know what to look for. Reporter roseanna works for a drugstore, but she and her husband, jose, were barely making ends meet. Brownsville, an impoverished neighborhood in brooklyn where the family resides, was one of the few places in new york where they could afford an apartment large enough for their expanding family. It was home. Reporter and no matter what was happening outside once i closed my door, that was it. Reporter it was a safe place, and no one could harm you. Exactly. Reporter the everyday reality of dealing with amandas asthma changed all that. Now the slightest cough sent her parents into a tailspin. So its kind of a scary existence. Yes. Here she is only 6, and shes sick. And she doesnt understand, and she doesnt know how she got it or why she got it. Reporter amanda may not have understood why she got asthma, but she was quickly becoming a veteran in treating her own emergencies. We asked jose to document his daughters struggle with the disease. So he pulled out his cell phone when a familiar sound woke him up at 2 30 a. M. When i come out, i hear the the start of the nebulizer. Shes, like, i cant breathe. I said, why didnt you call me . Oh, because i woke you up last night and the night before, and i didnt want to bother you, so i came and did it myself. Shes 6 years old. She should not know how to do her own medicine. Can i go get it and show you . This is the medicine that ive got to put on me. I open it and then i put it into here. And then i close it. And then i put this on. I turn it on, and it makes noise. Im so scared. But my daddy says its going to be all right. He says dont worry about a thing. Everything will be all right. Reporter but things were far from all right. Not for amanda. And not for melissa sepulveda, a 12yearold living in east harlem. Her first asthma attack happened in the middle of basketball practice. I felt like i couldnt breathe. I was suffocating. I didnt know what was happening to me. In my head i thought i was dying. Reporter an asthma attack causes the Small Airways in the lungs to suddenly close. Sometimes in response to an allergen, stress or exercise. But many times its caused by triggers in the environment. It feels like somethings pinching or squeezing your heart. Reporter and then when you try to breathe, what happens . It just wont let you. Reporter melissas dad, javier, was horrified. His daughter had developed a cough before the attack. But at first, he figured it was just a cold. And it just became more persistent, more she was complaining about headaches and so we became more concerned. Reporter javier works as a Fire Protection specialist at a local hospital. Its a good job, but raising a family in new york city is expensive. The family lives paycheck to paycheck. When money is tight, javier often works a second job to pay the bills. He prides himself on being a good provider and a u. S. Air force veteran who helped protect his country during desert storm. But fighting asthma was a different challenge altogether. Put a plastic bag over your head for about 10, 20 seconds, and you would know what an asthma attack feels when someone has one. The inability to breathe, the panic, the fear that that creates in my daughter. She has this condition for the rest of her life. Reporter and despite your best efforts, you couldnt protect her . Correct. And, uh reporter its your kids. Sorry. Reporter its your kids. Yeah. Reporter javier and roseanna were wondering why our daughters. The answer, i was shocked to discover, was right in front of their eyes in the place they thought was their safe haven. Their own home. Imagine the place your children live, where they eat, play, sleep, making them sicker by the day. That was the case with both melissa and amanda. Frightening. And when it seems no one cares, frustrating. At this point, i was saying to myself, my child is sick. She could die. And no one is doing anything to help me. Would look like john stamos wow wow and in a perfect world, whats delicious would be healthy too. Wish granted. Dannon oikos greek nonfat yogurt sounds too good to be true. Its thick, creamy but 0 fat and twice the protein this is really is too good to be true dannon oikos greek nonfat yogurt. And now a new greek lowfat yogurt made just for kids. Danimals superstars. Your kids will love it mmmm dannon. 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Inspired by the best feelings in the world. Glade. Sc johnson. A family company. We fear. We fear what an attack will do, when it will occur, if we can get her her medicine. Reporter javier was struggling with his daughters asthma, a complicated disease he didnt fully understand. The doctor said asthma, and even with that said, i was still ignorant. Reporter ignorant, especially of what many asthma experts have known for quite some time. Its all about where you live. Im standing along an invisible but important geographical dividing line in manhattan. Right there is the upper east side, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in new york city. Right over here is east harlem, one of the poorest. The two communities couldnt be any closer together, yet that welltdo part of town has a much, much lower asthma rate. So amongst children going to Elementary School, its about 7 on the upper east side. And about 19 in east harlem. Reporter this professor is a renowned asthma researcher at columbia. So three times higher chance behind you, going in that direction, of a child having asthma than over here . Kids growing up city blocks apart from each other. Reporter and the problem isnt just in new york. It is seen in other cities. In chicago, its seen, in philadelphia. All of the major cities have these differences. I cant breathe i cant breathe i cant breathe i cant breathe reporter why the drastic difference in asthma rates . Some of it has to do with the combination of crimerelated stress, obesity and the close proximity to pollutants from truck traffic and industrial areas. All conditions much more prevalent in lowincome neighborhoods. But one of the main differences is not what goes on outside but inside the home. Check all that apply. We have leaks. Yes. Extreme dampness or moisture. Yes. Reporter to see if anything in his home was aggravating his daughters asthma, javier enlisted the help of lsa Family Health service, a Nonprofit Organization in east harlem that helps families deal with the disease. Lopez is the director of lsas Environmental Health and family asthma program. And right away he identified a major asthma trigger in javiers kitchen. Roaches. I hate to even admit that on tv, but, you know, again, its a fact of life. We had a roach problem. Reporter thats right. This unsightly creature is considered one of the main triggers for childrens asthma. One right here, look. Wow, there it goes. Reporter roaches, of course, are a fact of urban life. But in lowincome communities, they are a virtual epidemic. And that doesnt mean its the fault of a tenant. In fact, javiers kitchen was exceptionally clean with roach traps everywhere. You would describe yourself as fastidio fastidious. Yes. Reporter it wasnt what was happening in your kitchen. It was what was happening in the building. Exactly. Exactly. Reporter but lopez and his team discovered that roaches were not the most significant asthma trigger in javiers apartment. Wow. This i havent seen. Reporter it was mold which covered ceiling and walls of javiers bathroom. Lopez knew this was not just surface mildew created by humidity and poor ventilation. Mold that you could simply wipe away with a bit of clorox. This is a severe problem. The fact that this visible mold here is so dark. Its already in the black stages. I see this over and over. You know, i ask myself who is going to fix this . Reporter for people renting apartments in welltodo communities, the answer is simple. Theyre landlords. But in lowincome neighborhoods, lopez says, landlords often allow buildings to deteriorate which makes it easier for asthma triggers like roaches or mold to persist no matter how hard the tenants try to fight them. You look at east harlem and the upper east side. I think were basically breathing the same outdoor air. I think one of the big differences is the housing conditions, is the structural problems in many of these buildings. And the fact that landlords are slow to repair because nobodys forcing them to do this work. Reporter javier says he started calling his landlord about his moldinfested bathroom almost a year before melissas asthma attack. But he says any repairs were just superficial. The mold kept coming back. I just said, theyre obviously not doing the right thing here. And i got upset, and i said, to hell with this. Im not going to pay them. And they were, like, youve got to pay your rent or else youre going to be evicted. I said, lets go to court. Reporter the ebs tensive mold presence clearly violated the new york city housing code which required landlords to abate such a problem within 30 days or face significant fines. But something about javiers struggle really got my attention. When i first heard about his problems, i assumed his nemesis was some private slum lord. I was surprised to learn his landlord was actually the city of new york. More specifically, its Housing Authority. Its the largest Public Housing agency in north america with over 400,000 tenants. And guess who else was a tenant. Guess who else had a bathroom full of black mold. Yes. Roseanna and her asthmatic daughter, amanda. There was a leak. Because thats how the mold started. Reporter amanda was exposed to that mold for a long time. For a long time. Reporter roseanna says she immediately notified nycha after her daughter was diagnosed with asthma in march 2012. Nycha sent several crews to inspect the bathroom but did not approve of bathroom repair until eight months later. And when roseanna called nycha in the fall of 2012 to get an actual repair date he said, well, the only available date that we have is march 2014. And here sitting and listening on the phone, and im, like, 2014 . Are you kidding me . Reporter that was almost a year and a half away. At this point, i was saying to myself, my child is sick. She could die. And no one is doing anything to help me. Reporter a lot of folks will look at this and think, well, why not just leave the apartment . Yeah. But then again, where do we go . Right now we cannot afford another place to move into. Reporter new york city Public Housing is not free. Most tenants are required to pay 30 of their income as rent. In fact, more than onethird of the Housing Authoritys total operating budget comes from rental payments. You work full time. Yes. Reporter your husband works full time. He works full time also. Reporter youre not asking for handouts here. No, im not. All i wanted was, you know, for nycha to help me when i needed it. Reporter but you had to make a lot of noise. I had to go public. Reporter my name is roseanna. Reporter so roseanna went public and dateline went undercover to see if anyone would be listening. You no he what . You need to pray to somebody. Coming up, somebody was listening. Im surprised. Maybe they heard the news. Word got to them that we are out there, speaking out. Reporter but will they solve the problem . Everybodys got a breaking point. When dateline continues. [ male announcer ] sprint honors chris and craigs texts on our new network. Think youll go out tonight . Probably not. But, maybe. Im kinda tired. But i also kinda wanna go out. Me too. Well, text me if you do. K. But i probably wont. But i might. [ male announcer ] in honor of the important things you do trouble understanding others on the phone due to a hearing loss . Get the Samsung Galaxy tab 3 for just 49. 99 visit sprintcaptel. Com or call 8778055845. With data starting at just 5 a month. Treat play more. Trouble understanding others on the phone due to a hearing loss . Get the Samsung Galaxy tab 3 for just 49. 99 go more. Now. Save more at the petsmart stock up save sale. Find great deals like 5 cans for 10. Plus, get more savings on all your favorite wet brands. At petsmart®. No. Tonight, i got the favorites bucket. Shhhhh, theyre eating. Kfc favorites bucket. 10 pieces, any recipe you want, 12. 99. I even get my favorite. Extra crispy boneless. Thank you. Were gonna be late. Oh are we early . [ male announcer ] commute your way with the bold, allnew nissan rogue. Roseanna was afraid the mold in her bathroom was triggering her daughters asthma, but she was captive to a repair hotline that made appointments not weeks away but months, even years. At one point i was, like, oh, maybe because i live in the projects. No one pays attention to these things. If i was living probably on park avenue, that wouldnt be happening. Reporter it wasnt something i expected, that the story of asthma would be yet another tale of the halves and the havenots. As i visited apartment after apartment, that was exactly the narrative i saw evolving. Hows he doing . Reporter the difference between rich and poor is especially pronounced in the citys Emergency Rooms like here at new york presbyterian Morgan StanleyChildrens Hospital where rows of kids on nebulizers are an everyday sight. The statistic is stunning. Poor children are up to 15 times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma than their wealthier counterparts. Thats also the case in inner city philadelphia, washington, d. C. , los angeles, and detroit. Take a big breathe. Reporter and after she had another asthma attack in december 2012, amanda ended up in the hospital, too. Im guessing youre in between fear, grief and just downright anger. Yes. Thats when i said i need to go out there. I wasnt doing it for me. At this point i felt that i had to do it for amanda. You see how its misting . Right through there, theres water leaking in the morning. Reporter roseanna contacted a Community Organizer from metro iaf, a collective of grassroots groups that was threatening to sue nycha based on the americans with disabilities act. Amanda is considered disabled. So what were asking for is for her to be accommodated in an apartment where theres no mold, where theres no moisture. You know, a place where she can be safe. Youre right because youre saying your child is sick because of her condition. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. My name is roseanna. Reporter ten months after amandas diagnosis, roseanna made the first public appearance of her life. You know, our house should be the safest place for me and my family, not only for me, but for everyone that lives in housing. How can i help you today . Im calling to follow up on a ticket for the mold to be removed from my apartment. Reporter the next day when roseanna called nycha, they suddenly told her they would come to fix her bathroom in a mere five days. Im surprised. Maybe they