Asthma Foundation Balloon Day, New Zealand, May 2013

Asthma Awareness Week is on the 20-26 May.  Balloon Day is on the 24 May – this is our opportunity to raise awareness of the challenges associated with having asthma in New Zealand and also to raise much needed funds so we can help 'keep our kids out of hospital'.

Why balloons? We use balloons as 1 in 4 children will struggle to blow up a balloon, their asthma won't let them.  Why is this?  Asthma causes the breathing tubes to swell. It's easy for an asthmatic to breathe in, however, when they try to breathe out, to perhaps blow up a balloon, the lungs struggle to push air through the swollen breathing tubes.

More here.