Hayley Coombs is 28 years old and lives in Bristol. At the age of 14 she was diagnosed with "exercise induced Asthma" but unlike her siblings who grew out of Asthma, she grew into it. Hayley was training to become a professional life guard and helped to run a pub, she enjoyed being busy but sadly her condition deteriorated and in 2013 she was diagnosed with Type 2 Brittle Asthma.

Her condition means she frequently suffers sudden and violent asthma attacks triggered by a long list of known causes and a long list of still unknown ones. Hayley now carries a portable nebulizer with her whenever she leaves the house and takes over 80 tablets and medications for her condition. In just 2.5 years Hayley has been intubated 11 times and admitted to intensive care 14 times after suffering an attack.

In May 2018 Hayley was left fighting for her life when an attack caused her to go into respiratory failure, Hayley's own sister had to perform CPR to keep her alive until a paramedic was flown in by air ambulance. Hayley was intubated and kept in respiratory intensive care for 5 weeks. An overall distressing situation Hayley wants no one else to ever have to experience.

Hayley's condition may stop her doing a lot of things but she is a strong independant woman and a fighter.Last year she campaigned for children to be taught at a younger age about asthma and the effects it can have if they do not use inhalers correctly or at all. She wrote a book to be distributed among schools to spread awareness but also to try and lift the social stigma she suffered using an inhaler.

In October this year I will be running the Cardiff Half Marathon to promote Asthma Awareness and to help fund further production and distribution of Hayley's books.

ITV's presentation & more about Hayley's books click here: Hayley's Books

For more information about the work that Asthma UK does click here: Asthma UK

All your contributions no matter how small will be hugely appreciated!

Rach & Hayley