Doctors said I probably wouldn’t live beyond the age of 10
stresses that while the most important thing people with asthma or lung conditions can do is to take their medication as prescribed, exercise is also important, where possible.
“Being more active helps you to use more of your lungs and to use them more efficiently – which can help to reduce chest symptoms,” he says. “It is also good for general fitness, can help with weight control and boost mental health – all of which can have a positive impact on asthma and other lung conditions.”
Clearly, exercise has never been a trigger for Rosemary’s asthma. In fact, she believes that her weekly regime of two exercise classes, three gym sessions, a ballet class and a daily walk, have helped to keep her going. “Whenever my consultant gives me a peak flow test [a measurement of how quickly air can be exhaled from the lungs] he is always amazed that I am able to go to the gym and spent so many years ice skating,” she says.
“He has been blunt about the fact that if it wasn’t for my fitness levels and the proactive way in which I look after my lungs, that I probably wouldn’t still be here.
“It’s something I won’t ever let myself forget.”
Rosemary is an ambassador for Asthma + Lung UK (asthmaandlung.org.uk; 0300 222 5800), the leading UK charity supporting those with a lung condition. More people die from lung conditions and asthma in the UK than in any other Western European country and deaths have doubled in the last 20 years. The charity is calling for the Government to invest more research into lung conditions and new treatments.