An inspiring week

I haven’t worked directly with young people for 20 years, so I was a little nervous about volunteering for a Kick Asthma holiday. I was one of ten volunteers helping to make sure 18 young people with asthma had a great holiday and learned a little about managing their asthma. What would it be like working with teenagers pretty much round the clock for a whole week? Would I need a holiday of my own to recover from it all?

Well now it’s over, my muscles have only just stopped aching from all the activity and I still have a bruised finger from trying to save a powerfully shot football. But my overriding impression is that asthma should do nothing to hold young people back from full and active lives.

The contrast was obvious. Children still tell us that they are marginalised at school because they have asthma. Some have to battle to get on the sports team or to be allowed to do long-distanced running. Some even say they are barred from doing PE simply because they have asthma. I have even heard cases where young people have been barred from school trips in case they have an asthma attack.

Well on this holiday the young people threw themselves into every activity. One day would be go-karting, water polo, trampolining, archery and football; the next day raft building, an assault course, swimming, kick boxing and a roller disco. The day started at 7.30 and they were just about in bed with lights off by 11 pm. This was possible because we had volunteer healthcare professionals on site round the clock, so if anyone had had an asthma attack it would have been handled quickly and effectively. Fortunately there were no asthma-related problems during the week although there were a few bruised shins and aching limbs.

The young people who took part in the holiday no doubt left convinced that they could tackle every challenge that came their way. Wouldn’t it be great if every child with asthma had the same opportunity, and every PE teacher got to observe them in action?

I left wondering how we could offer places at these holidays to more young people and how we could capture the energy the young people build up during the week and make it last into the autumn term. If their voices are heard by teachers, then more schools will have asthma policies and be confident in stretching pupils who happen to have asthma and dealing with exacerbations if and when they happen.

That’s one of the resolutions we need to make as a charity. No child should be held back because they have asthma. Not all of them will become Olympic contenders – though some will. But every child should have the opportunity to realise their full potential.

One final thought was the debt we owe our volunteers. It was fantastic to see people giving up their time to be holiday leaders, volunteer GPs, pharmacists or nurses and regular volunteers. The volunteers were bursting with ideas, made the week great fun for the children and were able to help the young people understand and manage their health better too. We couldn’t do it without volunteers and we are all very grateful.

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