NFL player makes smart choices about asthma

Well, it's probably not the best screen shot of all time, but I'm not very tech savvy. It's from an article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel about Green Bay Packer's running back Eddie Lacey. The story about Eddie talks about how he can still play NFL football with asthma. 

One of his asthma triggers is the cold weather (I know how you feel Eddie!!) I have a hard time breathing out in the cold.We are in the middle of winter here, and we had a cold snap a few weeks ago. The kind of cold where I can only breathe in once and my chest tightens up and I start coughing. (The daytime high was around 16 degrees Fahrenheit, at night it dropped down to 2 degrees.)

People living in Wisconsin are used to cold weather. In fact, Hubby met a new colleague who had spent a couple years in grad school in Wisconsin. He said it was the only place he lived where his eye lids froze shut. Yikes!

So, what do you do if you have asthma and cold is one of your triggers? Well, Eddie did the smart thing and told his running back coach that he couldn't breathe. They sent another running back into the game while Eddie waited for his inhaler to work. 

I'm so impressed by that, because a lot of athletes DON'T want to be taken out of the game, and they will just keep playing through it. That's dangerous to do. Did you know that 9 people die in the U.S. EVERY DAY from asthma? 

In fact, the website for Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America shows:

Every day in America:

• 44,000 people have an asthma attack.
• 36,000 kids miss school due to asthma.
• 27,000 adults miss work due to asthma.
• 4,700 people visit the emergency room due to asthma.
• 1,200 people are admitted to the hospital due to asthma.
• 9 people die from asthma.

Is it worth risking your life to play in a football game? I think not. Here's what Eddie said in the article:

"You know your body is good enough to go out and play," said Lacy. "But ... you just can't breathe. And it's a breathing thing. It's not something you want to go out and risk...risk something bad happening. There's nothing I can do about it. It's a medical condition. I take my inhaler, I do everything I'm supposed to do. When it happens, it happens."

Thank you Eddie for not only being incredibly talented, but smart! That guy knows how to manage his asthma and take care of himself. I think he is a great role model for younger kids.

Way to go Eddie!! :)