From 2 to 10 May Asthma UK is having a fundraising week - please take time to see whether there are any local fundraisers.
On Tuesday 5 May 2009 it is World Asthma Day. This year the focus is on children and young people with asthma.
I was one of the 40 percent of asthma sufferers diagnosed in adulthood - my diagnosis was last year. Although I’d guessed what might be wrong with me, I was a little afraid to find out. After all, having asthma puts limits on what you can do, right? Well, no actually! Having uncontrolled asthma is horrible, as I found out, and it’s quite risky too, but daily medication and a few sensible precautions have made all the difference.
I’m lucky because I don’t have severe symptoms. Since my diagnosis I feel healthier, happier, more active and have even discovered gardening! I know that my asthma won’t get in my way and that, as long as I take it seriously, it won’t define who I am.
1 million kids in the UK have asthma, but one third say they don’t know what to do if they have an attack. If this happens when they’re alone, or with someone who doesn’t know what to do, their attack may become more severe until they have to be hospitalised. Having an asthma attack, even a mild one is very scary because, although symptoms vary between individuals - wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and so on - you are effectively trying to breath in and out through a space that is only a fraction of the size it should be -imagine a drinking straw compared to a hosepipe!
This week’s fundraising is called “Putting Asthma in the Limelight” so that all kids with asthma know what to do in an attack and that more adults understand how they can recognise, and assist during, an asthma attack. If you do not know what to do in an asthma attack, please visit the Asthma UK website where you can find lots of important and useful information that might help you help someone else. Since there is a person with asthma in one in every five households in the UK you probably know someone with asthma.
You can also make a donation on the website and find out about other initiatives (such as the Kick Asthma Holidays for kids and the campaign to get the UK Government to supply asthma medication free of charge for those with long-term requirements).
Welcome to Raggedy Ann Girl in a 'Barbie Doll' World!
Oftentimes the world can seem too harsh. It can be too flash, too fast, too bewildering. It can be loud, unfriendly and so, so negative. We need to step away from the masses, to take time out for ourselves. BE ourselves. Without worrying about what everyone else thinks. We need a fresh start, a new approach. And most of all we need a sense of humour.
So, let's start right now. Let's shed our artificial 'Barbie doll' skins and embrace our inner Raggedy Anns!
So, let's start right now. Let's shed our artificial 'Barbie doll' skins and embrace our inner Raggedy Anns!
About the blogger
- Nicola Rippon
- United Kingdom
- Derby-born Nicola Rippon is a freelance writer. She has been a regular contibutor to the "Derby Telegraph" and "Derbyshire Life & Countryside". She is the author of a number of books of both local and national interest, including "Derby Our City (2001) and "Derbyshire's Own" (2006); and is the co-author of "Goodey's Derby" (2003). In 2001 she wrote and co-produced the highly-acclaimed film "Derby: A People's History".Educated in Derbyshire at Dale Primary and Littleover Schools, she is a long-suffering Rams season ticket holder. Her latest book "The Plot to Kill Lloyd George: The Story of Alice Wheeldon and the Peartree Conspiracy" was published in 2009 and she is still ridiculously excited that she can search for herself on Amazon! With a number of exciting projects 'in the pipeline', two cats to follow around and a vegetable patch to tend, Nicola is grateful for this opportunity to vent and muse on this blog.
