"The severe asthma of my son is very painful"

The Oscar-winning life, five years old, is regularly at stake because of severe asthma.

At the age of two, he was so sick that he took no medicine, leaving his parents fearing the worst.

"I will never forget how her little chest lifted up in desperate movements, trying to fill her lungs with air," says her mother, Carla.

After 57 emergency visits to the hospital with her son, Carla is used to the routine, but she never stops worrying.

"In less than 30 minutes, he can go from coughing and looking OK to constant coughing and breathlessness …"

"What we have experienced is very painful," she says.

"We were told that they could not do anything else for him."

According to Asthma UK, it is unclear how many life-threatening asthma attacks occur each day in the UK, as not everyone is seeking treatment for them and can be difficult to to define.

But they estimate that someone in the UK is under attack every three seconds and that many of them could be avoided if people took into account the alarm signals and were asking for help quickly.

This approach was aimed at asking 10,000 asthmatics to report the number of attacks suffered during the past year.

Asthma is a long-lasting condition that affects the airways – the tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs – which shrinks them and prevents them from breathing better.

It concerns 4.3 million adults and 1.1 million children in the UK.

Last year, 77,855 people were hospitalized for an asthma attack – and 1,250 people died, about three people a day.

Most of these people are older adults, says the charity, who may not pick up the signs and ask for help.

Asthma UK indicates that you have an asthma attack if:

• your blue pickup does not help you or you have to use it more than four hours at a time
• you have wheezing, a very tight chest or cough a lot
• you are out of breath and have trouble walking or talking
• your breathing accelerates and you feel that you can not breathe properly

The charity offers health tips on its website and has emergency tips to follow in case of an asthma attack – for adults and children.

He says that the best way for people to cope well with asthma throughout the year is to use their preventive inhaler every day, so that respiratory protection builds over time.

Sam Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: "Asthma attacks can be very scary, but some people do not ask for help despite the advice they have been given .

"But people never think it's as bad as that," she says.

She says that there may be a spike in asthma attacks during the winter, related to coughs and colds, but that triggers will vary from person to person. other and may include pollen.

"Feeling helpless"

In the case of Oscar, the symptoms are usually obvious, as far as he can now tell his mother that he has an attack.

But he can deteriorate very quickly and now that he is at school, his family trusts another person who detects signs and acts quickly.

The constant concern has affected everyone, including Oscar, who has consulted a psychologist because of the trauma caused by numerous hospital visits and procedures.

"I'm worried all the time," Carla said.

"Will the school call me? Should I go out?

"We can not go on holiday abroad because we have to be near a hospital and we have lost thousands of pounds on canceled trips because it was too poor to go."

But the worst feeling is helplessness, she says.

"He can cough all night but you can not do anything."