By Alesha Capone
Healthcare experts have urged Australians with asthma to get have an action plan in case their illness flares up this summer.
According to Asthma Australia, more than 2.7 million Australians are living with asthma, but 71 per cent do not have an asthma action plan.
Hoppers Crossing resident Melissa Cugley, who was diagnosed with asthma at the age of two, said her illness flared up during the 2019-20 bushfire season, when heavy smoke drifted over Melbourne.
She also had to stop working as a nurse due to COVID-19, after her doctor recommended it would not be safe for her to work in a hospital day after day.
Ms Cugley compared asthma to “trying to breathe through a straw or trying to breathe with someone standing on your chest”.
Ms Cugley, 29, said she was actually admitted to hospital earlier this year, after a cold caused her asthma to flare up.
“Because of my symptoms I had to be placed in the COVID waiting room,” she said.
“I didn’t have COVID and I was really scared I might catch it from someone in the ward,” she said.
Ms Cugley said she was hoping to return to work in paediatrics next year as she loves working with children.
She said that when she was younger, her mother would pay $100 per month for her asthma medication.
She said it was good to see new medications being added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme – such as Fostair, a combination therapy for adults with asthma, which was added to the PBS this month.
Ms Cugley said that although asthma impacted her life, she was still able to keep active.
In addition to being a Scouts and Girl Guides leader, she is also in charge of the Victorian Olaves – the Girl Guides Australia’s program for women aged 18 to 30 – and helps out backstage at theatrical shows.
“My advice for people with asthma is that there is always a way of doing the things you want to do, you just might have to do them differently,” she said.
