Jalisa West can run and do most things children her age can do now, but that wasn’t the case just a few months ago.
“Running around and stuff was really hard for her because she would get out of breath and need an inhaler and if I didn’t have – couldn’t afford to have one at school, I would end up having to come and get her and bring her home,” said her mother, Lisa West of Overland.
With the exception of her father, James West, Jalisa comes from a family of asthmatics. Her mother, Lisa West and two sisters Lacrecia, 18, and Daisha, 13, have what they describe as milder forms of asthma.
“They got a lot of colds and they would just get really sick. A minor cold would just put them out,” said Lisa West, the children’s mother. “That’s when they finally did some tests on them and they said that they did have asthma. So they had to get breathing treatments and that’s the only way that made them breathe easier.”
Asthma is an inflammatory disease which causes the lungs and bronchial airways to swell, resulting in severe breathing problems commonly known as asthma attacks or episodes.
During an asthma attack, the bands of muscle surrounding the airways tighten and mucus production is increased, which causes shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and tightness or pressure in the chest. Acute asthma attacks can be triggered by infections, exercise, cold weather, tobacco smoke, air pollution, allergens, chemical odors and stress.
With a house full of family members with asthma, resources dwindle as the co-pays add up.
“It’s just ridiculous. My co-pay for my doctor’s visits is like $10 but I mean, it – constantly having to go to this doctor or this specialist, you know? And they send you here or there and all this other stuff, you know?” the mother explained. “And then like, the medication –one of her inhalers is like 50 or $60. And she’s on Flovent which has a steroid in it and she takes Albuterol and she has to take that every day. And so, she was on the Advair, which is, like $50 but they took her off that and put her on Flovent, because it’s cheaper. So, yeah, that’s why I couldn’t afford it.”
A severe asthma attack landed the 11-year-old in the ICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for a few days. She recovered and the episode allowed hospital staff to put her family in touch with the help they needed to better manage her illness.
“That’s where they signed me up with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation because before I could not afford all the medications that she needed to keep her from getting this sick,” her mother said.
“They didn’t want her to end up the same way – in the same predicament. “and, you know, it was embarrassing for me to have to say that ‘Hey, I can’t afford my kid’s medicine to keep her from getting sick.’”
As painful as it is to see your child or any child suffering with an illness – feelings of guilt, regardless of them being unwarranted, can be overwhelming.
“It made me feel like it was my fault why she got that sick, because she had to be on steroids, inhalers and allergy medicine and all this other stuff,” she said.
Mom works as a cashier at Target and dad works as a truck driver, but their dilemma is all too familiar for many households where one or both parents work. The family is insured, but they struggle financially to pay co-pays for doctors’ visits and prescriptions that are needed to stay healthy.
Through Project Concern, the AAFA St. Louis chapter pays the co-pays to allow the family to get the medicines needed for Jalisa. And hopefully, this means the mother will no longer have to make choices between her health and that of her daughters.
“My husband, he gets on me because I am diabetic, as well as having asthma and lupus and stuff. You know, I put myself off a lot of times ‘cause I can’t afford to go to the doctor and send her too – plus I have co-pays and all this other stuff. So a lot of times, the kids come first.”
Jalisa now has the medicine she needs at home and at school.
“She’s not hardly sick and if she does have a little cold, it goes away. It used to be if she got a cold – a little bit of cold, she would end up at the doctor’s office and miss a lot of school,” Lisa West said. “By having the medicine to prevent this, you know, she is much better and she can run around and play and she doesn’t have to worry about being out of breath. It’s been a tremendous difference.”
For more information about qualifying for assistance by the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of St. Louis, which serves surrounding counties in Missouri and the City of East St. Louis, Madison and St. Clair Counties in Illinois, call or visit www.aafastl.org.
Box:
Is your asthma under control?
Here is an asthma profiler check list from the American Lung Association site, www.lungusa.org. Your asthma is under control if you:
• Have daytime asthma symptoms twice a week or less
• Use a rescue inhaler twice a week or less.
• Have no nighttime or early-morning awakening with asthma symptoms
• Have no limits to work, school or exercise
• Have normal or personal best lung air flow
• Have no more than one intense asthma episode in the last year
Asthma can be life-threatening if it is not properly managed. With doctor’s care and proper treatment, asthma patients can live normal and active lifestyles.
Box 2:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers more information about breathing easier with asthma. Call 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) or visit http://www.cdc.gov/asthma.
