Asthma won't stop me

Asthma won't stop me

By

Hayley Coombs

My name is Hayley.

I suffer from asthma attacks and use inhalers.

I decided to create a storybook to educate young children about asthma, and the different symptoms and experiences that people can go through.

I wanted to show that asthma can be a severe illness, but that all the medicines and machines are nothing to be scared of.

They can actually save lives.

I made this book with the help of Fixers, a wonderful charity that gives young people a voice.

This book is the view / experience / opinion of a young person, and should not be relied upon or used as a substitute for formal (medical or other) advice.

Asthma won't stop me

By Hayley Coombs

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Sophia.

Sophia had asthma, so she spent every night

coughing

and

coughing and

coughing

!

And she never got any sleep.

Sophia had an inhaler.

She was meant to use it every night before bed and it would make her feel better.

?

Mr Be ar

But she didn’t like it.

It was a weird shape and she didn’t like all the bits that moved about.

There are lots of scary things about asthma inhalers.

Some have

BIG its, b

some

t a ste a bit funny,

as big Nearly ear!

B as Mr

There are also loads of different machines and medicines that Sophia doesn’t understand.

Push

bit

and they come in

felourrse. nt difco

?

g bit

Movin

Green y h W

It was the same in the hospital, and at the doctors too.

There was lots of weird stuff!

Sophia didn’t like all these different things.

She decided that...

“They were weird!”

Weird

thing!

But Sophia really wanted to sleep!

In fact, when Sophia DOESN’T use her inhaler, there are lots of things she CAN’T do…

s l l e m s , y l l e sm sneezy, make her

Running

zy, makes her whee

cats make her uneasy...

Fur all ergy

All these things make it really hard for Sophia to breathe.

Without her inhaler, Sophia just ends up

ng coughi

and

coughing and

coughing!

“What should I do, Mr Bear?�

?

But with her inhaler, Sophia can breathe and run and play and sleep really easily.

So Sophia decided it was time to be brave.

She picked up the inhaler, took a deep breath, pressed the puff‌

PUFFFFF!!!

...then she stopped coughing.

Z

Because asthma won’t stop me!

ZZ

Z

ZZ

Sophia told herself.

Then she and Mr Bear fell peacefully asleep.

This book was created by Hayley (25) from Bath.

Hayley has Asthma, and was inspired by her own experiences to educate young children on what Asthma is and how it can affect young people.

This book has been produced with the help of Fixers, the campaign that gives young people a voice.

--If you want to find out more, please visit: asthma.org.uk blf.org.uk nhs.uk