Faces with Asthma
Marcel
My first clue was the coughing and wheezing that wouldn’t go away. Up until March 2005, I had completed 17 marathons and played hockey for more than 32 years. I was in very good physical shape. But I knew something wasn’t right when I started training for the June 2005 marathon. I was coughing and wheezing all the time.
I didn’t have asthma as a child. I had never smoked. So I went to see my doctor and he sent me for allergy testing. But that wasn’t the culprit either. Then my doctor started asking questions about my work environment.
I had worked at a large dairy in Manitoba for more than 17 years. In my last nine years there, I worked at a machine that filled containers with dairy products. Before the machine filled a container, it was sanitized with a fine mist.
For years, I had been breathing in that chemical mist without proper ventilation or protective equipment. After a lot of tests and examinations, my doctor diagnosed occupational asthma.
The chemical I had been breathing in over the years caused me permanent lung damage. My doctor says I’ve lost 26 per cent of my lung capacity. The only protective equipment I wore was my work smock and safety glasses. No mask. No ventilator. The building I worked in was 97 years old and had walls three feet thick. Ventilation was a huge problem.
I was off on sick leave for 14 months. When I returned to work, I was transferred to an office position for six months. But after that, my employer wasn’t willing to accommodate me for other positions. So I resigned.
I used to run marathons. Now it’s difficult for me to shovel snow or walk up stairs. I’m only 44 and I can no longer play any of my favorite sports. My whole quality of life has changed dramatically.
I fought for four years to get my condition recognized as work-related asthma by my employer. After being denied compensation seven times, I am currently in negotiations with Workman’s Compensation for a final settlement.
I work as an educational assistant, which is great. But I’m concerned for other workers who may be exposed to something in their workplaces that could cause them permanent lung damage.
If there’s just one thing I’d like to tell other workers, it’s this: Be fully aware of all the substances that you work with. If you don’t have a health and safety committee, be proactive and form one. Know your risks. And protect yourself. It happened to me, it could happen to you.
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Paige
The delivery room resonated with a healthy cry when baby Paige was born. She immediately became the star of her family, as every baby does!
But when she was three weeks old, an anxious couple arrived in emergency – their little star was having problems breathing. The trend continued – ear infections, fevers, cough and a gurgling sound while struggling to breathe were her constant companions.
Lisa contacted the Lung Association of Saskatchewan because she felt Paige’s breathing problems were more than colds; after consultation with health care professionals who are certified asthma educators, and following a visit to a pediatrician, a diagnosis of asthma was made.
“When I was a teeny baby, my Mom said I had my first visit to the hospital. Now that I’m a big girl (I just turned four), me and my inhaler go everywhere together, just in case I need it’, says Paige.
“Winter is the worst,” says Lisa. “Because she can’t breathe very well when it’s cold, we have to wait for really nice days to go tobogganing. We have to increase her medication during the winter. Our goal is to control Paige’s asthma and, most of the time, we succeed.
‘We’ve learned about what triggers Paige’s asthma, and have got her on medication that is working very well. We’ve ripped out all our carpets. And her toys need to be cleaned – even the teddy bear goes in the dryer,” says Lisa. “I owe so much to the caring people at the Lung Association for providing us with practical information and helping us cope.”
And where is Paige today? Why, she’s recovering from a broken nose that she got while playing, of course!
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Katie
When you look at Katie, you don’t see a “sick” child. When you hear about her great ability to play hockey or soccer, you don’t hear about the medications she has to take several times a day so she can play. When you know about her good marks in school, you don’t know about the war going on inside her body.
Katie has asthma and what you don’t see, hear about, or know is that her life can be a daily struggle. She has to battle for what most children take for granted – to be able to breathe. There are times when each breath is a struggle and being afraid is normal. And Katie is not alone, because 1 in 5 school-aged children on PEI have asthma.
At The Lung Association, we see how sick a child can become. We see that more than half of the children with asthma on PEI miss time from school because they are too sick to go. We see the children who have suffered only a few asthma flare-ups over the last year, and we see the children who have had more than 50! Imagine having 4 or 5 episodes a month where you felt like you were smothering or choking.
As Katie says, “It’s like having a pencil in my throat. I know what an asthma attack is like and I want other children to know that you just have to breathe slow and let the medication do its work.”
We hear about the dramatic changes that families have to make to their homes – to eliminate asthma triggers; their finances – to pay for medications that range from $125 to $300 each month; their daily lives – where the whole family must learn about a complex health problem to prevent it from getting worse. Living with asthma is definitely a family affair. Time is spent renovating the home to make it safer for sensitive lungs. There are trips to the doctor’s office and to the hospital. And when suddenly, someone in the home can’t breathe – everything stops –because when you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.
It’s hard for a family to keep up the pace to keep difficult asthma under control. In Katie’s case, hers is a difficult pace to keep up. She is doing her part – taking her medications (even when she sometimes wishes she didn’t have to), avoiding her asthma triggers (like not being able to have a cat), and being an amazing athlete (even though there are times when her chest hurts a lot.) This past summer, she started golf lessons and had the chance to meet PEI’s number one lady golfer, Lori Kane. Does it all make a difference? When we asked Katie this question, her answer included this example. Some winters I miss at least 14 days of school. This year, I’ve missed only three so far.” She also said, “My greatest love is hockey and this year I am playing on a Pee Wee Double A team.”
For Katie, it’s all about being able to be a regular, active kid who loves to play sports. For her mother and father, they say “It’s been months since Katie had a severe asthma attack – touch wood.” We did have quite a scare back in November, when Katie had a bout of mycoplasma pneumonia. It breaks your heart to watch your child struggle for her breath.”
Read more personal stories from the Lung Association by clicking here.
