Oct 21, 2008 5:32 pm US/Eastern
New Program May Help Manage Asthma Symptoms
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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A Maryland report shows one out of every 15 young athletes suffers from asthma, which can have deadly side effects.
CBS
A Maryland report shows one out of every 15 young athletes suffers from asthma, which can have deadly side effects.
As
Weijia Jiang reports, a new online program could help adults learn how to manage symptoms.
He was a star college football player and is now a Baltimore Ravens rookie. But the long journey to the NFL was not easy for 22-year-old Haruki Nakamura, who was born with asthma.
"I grew my whole life with it. I'm full-blown asthmatic. There's times when I spent weeks and weeks in the hospital, but I'm still here. I still made it to this point," he said.
To help other kids get to that point, state leaders launched the Winning With Asthma program, an online course that teaches coaches, physical education teachers and parents about managing asthma. Participants take a quiz at the end to test how much they know about helping patients.
"These kids need to go out and do something active. They need to do positive things. Athletics are a very important part of it," said Dante Jones, who coaches varsity football at Westside High School.
About 10,000 people, including more than 3,000 kids, are hospitalized every year because of asthma-related illnesses. About 44,000 end up in the ER, nearly half of whom are under the age of 18. Every year, 81 people die as a result of symptoms.
"No child should have to sit on the sideline because of asthma, but more importantly, no child should have to lose their life because we as adults couldn't help them," said Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown.
It teaches them to identify warning signs of an imminent attack, how to manage players' symptoms and it will save lives and money, which will help young asthmatics achieve their dreams, even if that's playing for the Ravens.
"Go for it. Never be intimidated by asthma. It's not something that should hold you back, ever," Nakamura said.
Maryland is the seventh state to launch the program, which started out in Minnesota.
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