Have you ever been witness to an asthma attack? I mean really witness an individual try to inflate their lungs to no avail? I have, and I can tell you one thing: never have I felt so helpless.
I wish to tell you a personal story about my encounter with asthma attacks,so as you know why I fundraise tirelessly to raise awareness about the condition.
I hope you're sitting comfortably. Let me begin. I first encountered asthma attacks as a small child living in Yorkshire, England.
My brother and I would often go into the woods at the back of our farm and play for hours playing solders, cowboy and Indians, pirates, knights you name it. Mother would often have to ring a bell to call us back in to ensure we didn't miss our lunch and dinner, but she needn't have bothered.
We always new when it was time to eat buy the gruelling of our hungry stomachs.
On one particular day I noticed James was falling behind as we made our way to the woods.
When I inquired what was the matter he replied, "I feel a little wize in the chest".
I suggested we return home and let mum fix him up some of her delicious broth soup as this usually cured most things straight away.
I reckon it was because of the home grown veg, and the fresh beef from the farm, not forgetting mum's secret recipe.
James declined the offer and opted to play in the woods claiming, "Mother would only put me to bed and fuss over me". I agreed to continue, knowing that mother would do exactly as James predicted.
Once we reached the woods James wanted to play doctors, a game I would not have picked. I suspect James was still feeling unwell and did not wish to be over exerted.
After about two hours I could see James begin to wheeze a lot more and could hardly speak, at this point I began to shout at James to no avail.
How would I have known that I was about to lay witness to an asthma attack? I decided to run for all my dear life back to the main house shouting out at the top of my voice, "Help! Help!"
Until I could see mum standing buy the kitchen door, as I reached mum I could hardly speak, I had to take three deep breaths before I could get the words out, all the time mum frantically trying to get me to speak.
Once I told mum what had happened we immediately rushed back to the woods.
As we approached the clearing where I left James, I could see his motionless body just lying there, and mother immediately felt for a pulse.
She started what I now know as C.P.R. After she blew into James' mouth mum proceeded to press down onto his chest for what seemed like an eternity Finally, James took a deep breath and came round.
He was still making deep shallow breaths.He was still alive.
This had been my first brush with an asthma attack. We were air lifted to the hospital due to how severe the attack was and the fact it was a child. After leaving the hospital, I heard mum and dad talking about James.
How mum thought her son was dead, when James did not respond to the C.P.R, and how the doctors could only theorise as to what brought on an asthma attack so suddenly.
They say it could have been something he was exposed to from school or the cold frosty day. They are not a hundred percent sure what triggered his asthma attack.
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