Severe Asthma

My brother's name is Christian. (Although we are twins I was approximately 30 minutes older, according to my mom.)

Christian has severe asthma and rarely can go outside to play during nutrition. (I also have asthma but it is moderate). If Christian goes outside for proximately 5 minutes he starts wheezing like crazy, and gasps. He then takes his puffer or inhaler. I feel really bad when he is touching his chest in pain, taking 5 breaths of his inhaler and then taking his pills.

On the day of our first day of school, his asthma got really bad. We had started going to a new school and we forgot to bring the note saying that he had severe asthma and I had moderate asthma. As a result, we had to run during P. E., instead of just sitting down on the bench.
We had to run two miles. Since I was the older brother, I had  to take care of him. I ran with him just too see if he was okay. Although I had moderate asthma, felt that I had to take care of my brother since this was the first time he ran 2 miles. We were given 20 minutes to run 2
miles. Before we ran, I told Christian to take his inhaler with him while he was running and to take in deep breaths (keep his lungs wide open). He did what I told him and the whistle was blown to run.

Christian and I started to both run. After approximately 5
minutes, he started putting his hands on his chest and started wheezing. 

Ten minutes past and we finished running 3/4 of a mile. I noticed that he was turning his hands into a fist. I could tell he could not run anymore and was struggling to run (having pains in his chest).     

By then, I was starting to wheeze. I took two deep breaths of my inhaler. While I was taking my inhaler, Christian kept on running, I tried to stop him but my wheezing got out of control and I could not breathe or
run to catch up with him. Unfortunately, my lungs weren't able to keep up with this strain. I started to move my shoulders up and bent over to get my lungs open. I took couple more puffs and couple more gasps of air. I
started running my fastest even though I was wheezing.

Christian was way ahead of me and started running his 5th lap. I was thinking to myself why is he not stopping. I finally caught up with him. He was crying and gasping for even the slightest air he could take into his lungs. While he was crying, he told me that he could "NOT BREATHE
AT ALL." I started panicking and told him to take his inhaler. He did. Nothing. He was still unable to breathe. I wanted to tell a teacher but the teachers were far away and I couldn't afford Christian to collapse while he was walking so I told him to keep on taking his inhaler. He did.
After approximately 5 minutes the medicine inside the inhaler was gone and Christian was not able to breathe and was still crying. (My wheezing went away because I was not running, nor was my brother). He started coughing in the most abnormal way, extremely loud almost like a burping type of sound.

I  had to do something so I ran to the coach approximately half a mile away. By the time I got there, I could barely breathe. I took 5 puffs of my inhaler. I told the coach that my brother had severe asthma and that if
he doesn't have enough oxygen, he may die. I started crying my guts out. My coach and I ran towards my brother, when we found him on the ground, collapsed. My teacher was not certified for CPR, but I was. But I was
still recovering from the running I had done. I did not care. I gasped for air, when my teacher told me to be careful when I breathe. I gave him CPR. Nothing. My teacher was calling 911 and was reporting a severe asthma attack. By now everyone, I mean everyone was
surrounding us and I barely could breathe. My chest felt like it was crushing my lungs. I finally collapsed. I couldn't breathe.

According to the coach, the ambulance and my parents came just in time to get me to the hospital. After a few days, I noticed I couldn't breathe again, when I realized my brother's head was on my chest, crushing my lungs. I started laughing and gasping. I realized that my brother's
recovery was faster than mine. I told him to wake up taking in another gasp of air, when he noticed that his head was on my rib cage.

A few days after, fully recovered, I woke up on the hospital bed when the doctor told me that if it wasn't for me, my brother would have been dead. That was a relief.

Share your story

More inspiring stories

Asthma Support Groups

"If Only I Had Teeth Down There." Is the Rapex Condom a Solution to Rape?

WIN a year's supply of Contact Lens Cases