52 THE QUEENS COURIER • WELLNESS • MAY 16, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
wellness
How one mother took control of
her asthma - recognize the signs
Donna Matlach struggled with asthma
for years, but it wasn’t until she noticed
how much it was interfering with simple,
everyday tasks that she realized she
needed to do something about it. Th at’s
why the mother of four became a patient
advocate for people with severe asthma. “I
noticed that I started getting more winded
taking walks and had trouble laughing
at my family’s jokes,” said Matlach, a
ballroom dancer and grandmother of 11.
“Each year, my asthma symptoms seemed
to be getting worse. My moment of truth
- the asthma Aha! moment that prompted
me to take action - was when I got breathless
bending down to tie my shoes. Th at’s
when I realized, this is enough, it’s time to
fi nd out what’s really going on. Th is isn’t
just asthma.”
She was determined to fi nd out why
her symptoms weren’t getting better while
taking the usual asthma medications. At
the worst state of her asthma condition,
she found herself relying more and more
on rescue inhalers to breathe. Matlach
also traveled across the country and saw
dozens of specialists in search of someone
who could provide answers.
Aft er countless visits and tests, Matlach
fi nally had an answer. She was diagnosed
with eosinophilic asthma, a form of severe
asthma linked to eosinophils, a type of
white blood cell.
“Daunting as it sounded, I was glad
to have a diagnosis. You can’t give up
and you need to try everything to fi nd
answers. I was relieved when I fi nally got
my asthma better controlled,” Matlach
said. “I encourage others to talk with their
doctors to fi nd out what treatment plan is
the right one for them.”
Matlach’s journey with severe asthma
continued long aft er fi nding her own
treatment plan. She became passionate
about educating more people about the
condition. Matlach went on to establish
the Severe Asthma Foundation, a nonprofi
t organization built to bring to light
the prevalence of severe asthma and to
help educate patients, caregivers, healthcare
providers and advocates.
Stories like this are not uncommon.
Asthma aff ects more than 20 million people
in the U.S. and up to 10 percent of
them have a severe form. Almost 50 percent
of people who have severe asthma
have an increase of eosinophils in their
lungs, which can cause more frequent
asthma attacks.
Signs of severe asthma may include:
1) You have symptoms that cause wakeups
at night and interfere with your daily
activities
2) You’ve experienced two or more asthma
attacks in a year
3) You’ve made one or more trips to
urgent care, the emergency room or a
hospital
If someone has had an “asthma Aha!”
moment, they can take action, visit asthma.
com, download the asthma e-guide
to track their asthma, gain better control
and have a more meaningful conversation
with their doctor.
“Getting the right treatment at the
right time for severe asthma is important
because repeated asthma fl are-ups
and infl ammation caused by long-term
uncontrolled asthma may lead to lung
damage,” said Dr. David Slade, M.D., a
national asthma expert, pulmonologist
and GSK Medical Aff airs Lead on Asthma.
Asthma Awareness Month is in May
Courtesy BPT
/WWW.QNS.COM
