…During gym class, I would attempt to run the mile and I remember being on the opposite side of  the track from the teacher .  I always felt like I wasn’t going to make it.  It was such a helpless feeling. 

My parents finally brought me to my pediatrician who diagnosed me with asthma.  I remember that day clearly, it was as if I was defective; it was as if God gave me a lemon of a body or something.  I wanted to return it and trade it in for a new one.  Have you ever felt that way?

It’s been over five years now and I’m afraid to be active.  I mean I wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air.  I can actually feel my windpipe close down and I wonder, is this it?  Am I going to get a breath or is this my last one?  I have no control over it all.