Asthma is a chronic condition of the lung airways, causing coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. According to researches, there are about 6.1 million children suffering from asthma, and its most often hereditary. Parents are not always there to help their children in case a flare happens, and schools should know the medical steps that need to be taken further. It appears that a school placed its policy before a kid’s life, which led to a real movement started by a grieving mother.
Ryan Gibbons was facing asthma since a very young age, he was diagnosed at just one-year-old. He grew up accustomed to the attacks, but received support and much care from his loving parents. But they can’t be around him all the time when the flares hit.
It was supposed to be a normal day at the school’s soccer field, but Ryan Gibbons was missing his puffer because an administrator confiscated it, following a stupid rule implemented by the school. As he was playing, an asthma attack hit, and Ryan started wheezing, asking desperately for his inhaler. The kids went to the administration office but it was too late, he was not there anymore and by the time someone managed to enter the office, Gibbons died.
His family tried to explain the school staff about his condition in the past, but they considered that a pointless rule was much more important than an innocent child’s life, rejecting their propositions. Seeing that nobody is listening, his family started teaching him to hide the puffers, but sometimes the administrators found them and locked them in their offices. “All prescribed medicine has to be kept in an office”, was among the policies of the school, but unfortunately nobody thought that this will end one child’s life at some point.
The grieving mother explains with tears in her eyes about the moment she arrived at the place, with the paramedics trying to comfort her. “The first Christmas without Ryan was though, obviously there’s no doubt about it..”, Ryan’s mother says. They had plans for the next summer, but all of them were canceled due to the sorrowful event.
Sandra Gibbons started a petition which demanded her local government to change the current rules and treat asthma with more importance and attention. All school staff must know how to handle this kind of situation, instead of putting at risk a life. It took time to be accepted in the government, but ultimately it happened, naming it “Ryan’s law”. She chose to prevent this from happening again going the extra mile with her movement, even if it wouldn’t bring her beloved Ryan back.
“After burying my son, I knew that this was a preventable attack. To me, if people had appropriate training and knew what to look for when a child was in distress, he would be here today.” Sandra said in an interview.
Let’s share this video to make Sandra Gibbons’s story and effort known.
Watch the video below: