Alia Cairns, 17 from Belfast, had struggled with asthma for years and has missed huge portions of her school years due to hospital visits and asthma flare ups. She and her mum, Tanya, along with their whole family, had accepted that this was just reality for her - until a referral to the Asthma Clinic at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast turned everything around.
Tanya says, “The clinic up at the Royal completely changed Alia’s life. They changed her medications and put her on new inhalers and it was lifechanging.”
While many of us might think of asthma as being a minor childhood condition that causes the odd cough or wheeze, the reality is that asthma can be debilitating and even dangerous, as asthma attacks can kill.
Tanya and Alia are sharing their story to support local charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke’s new asthma campaign to raise awareness of the condition, how dangerous it can be and the importance of managing it well through the correct use of inhalers.
Looking back on Alia’s years with asthma, Tanya explains, “She was diagnosed quite early on, she was maybe 2 or 3. She wasn’t too bad initially. I also have asthma and I assumed it would be like mine which is well managed and mild. What we discovered was that hers was much more severe. She spent a lot of time in hospital and would need to be nebulised a lot.”
Tanya says, “We just got on with it not realising she could be referred to the asthma clinic. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. As she was growing up, it was becoming more intrusive in her life She was in and out of hospital and missed a lot of school. I heard about the clinic almost four years ago when she was in third year, and we asked to be referred.”
“Once she was changed onto the right inhalers for her and it was controlled properly, the difference it made to her life was huge.”
“Before, Alia wouldn’t have done PE because she couldn’t. Now, she goes to dance classes and does all the things she would have been afraid to do before because it just would have been too difficult.”
“We just saw this huge transformation. Now, they can compare when they first saw her and her levels and test results to how she is now and she’s like a different child. They couldn’t believe she was actually getting through the day before with how bad she was but that was just normal for us.”
“She hasn’t had to be hospitalised at all since she was referred to the Asthma clinic and had her inhalers changed.”
From Alia’s perspective, having severe asthma as young person has impacted her education as well as her social life. She added, “As well as it being painful and scary being treated in hospital for asthma and not being able to breathe, I was also missing tonnes of school and it was impacting everything. I was in second and third year of school when I was in and out of hospital the most, which is a really important time.”
It’s also made a big difference to Tanya’s life as a mum. “I don’t worry as much now. There was always the fear that something would happen, that she would be at a party or something and you’d get a phone call saying you need to come and get her.”
“Plus, being in and out of hospital was scary for her. We accepted that was just the way it was. We were on holiday on a staycation one time when she had to be hospitalised. You never could completely relax because you would just never know, one day she would be okay and the next day she was struggling to breathe, she would be floppy, her oxygen levels would drop, and it just took over all aspects of life. If you can’t breathe, it’s very serious.”
But now, thanks to her change in medication and managing her asthma well by taking her preventer inhaler every day and carrying her reliever inhaler everywhere, Alia is ‘like a normal girl’.
Tanya adds, “She’s very good about taking her inhalers. Plus, at the Asthma clinic, they had a programme through which Alia would take a video each night of her taking her inhaler to send to her asthma nurse, Barbara, to prove she had done it. It was brilliant because it meant it became part of her life and she couldn’t forget, but it also meant Barbara could check that she’s taking it correctly.”
Tanya says, “Of course, we still have instances when her asthma is worse. One night she was at a party and they had a cat. She phoned and asked to come home because she was struggling to breathe. But she knows to get out of the environment and take her reliever inhaler. The next day she was fine. Before, she would have needed to go straight to the hospital.”
“She’s so much better now that sometimes you almost forget she still has asthma. But instances like that are a reminder – it isn’t fixed, and we still need to be careful.”
Alia is well aware of this too and is determined that even though her asthma has improved massively, she won’t let her guard down. She says, “Even though my asthma is so much better now, it’s still there. I would say to anyone who has asthma that is mild, don’t relax just because you feel better. I still know I need to take my preventer inhaler every night and carry my reliver inhaler with me everywhere to make sure I’m okay. You also need to not just rely on your inhalers, but also monitor and be aware of your triggers and be careful to avoid them if you can. If my allergies are bad, it can set me off quite badly still.”
What advice would Tanya give to other parents of a child with asthma? “I would say, if you feel your child’s asthma isn’t as controlled or well managed as you’d like, seek a second opinion or referral somewhere else. If we hadn’t asked I don’t know if we ever would have been referred to the clinic, but if we had known sooner, we would have brought her to the clinic years ago.”
Tanya also wants to tell people how serious asthma can be. “Alia was missing chunks of school when her asthma was really bad. People die every year from asthma so it’s so important it’s as well managed as it can be. Make sure they use their preventer inhaler every day and bring their reliever inhaler everywhere. And if their asthma is not good, don’t be afraid to take them to hospital if you need to. With having asthma myself, I knew I could do that, but some parents might not know that it’s an option or might not think they’re serious enough for hospital. But it could be the difference between life and death.”
For further information and support about asthma visit, www.nichs.org.uk/asthmacankill
