To wrap up Asthma Awareness Month, I thought it would be interesting to vlog a day with asthma to give an idea of what things can be like. Though I’ve been sharing guest posts from my friends with asthma, they capture the big picture but not the finer details of the day to day intricacies of living with a chronic disease.

Asthma, though, can look immensely different from day to day and from person to person. I am extremely thankful for the willingness of some of my friends to rise up and join me in sharing what a day in their lives with asthma looks like (and, on very short notice)–and of course, if anybody else wants to contribute, by all means, please fire a video off to me!

Super special thanks to Steve for getting a video off to me on really short notice!

Steve and I filmed these in an overlapping block of time, so we really had no idea what the other person was doing. However, our perspectives really overlap in certain parts of these videos, which just blew my mind. Steve has really severe asthma, but if you know any part of his story, you’ll know that he truly rolls with it, does what he has to, and lives a really vibrant and active life regardless of his asthma.

However, despite “asthma” sharing a common name, and Steve and I having common passions . . . you will see that Steve’s day is dramatically different from mine.

(By the way, I’m convinced Steve is a pro video blogger in disguise. And I think he needs to do this more often. Also, Steve, I like your hoodie.)

Asthma: it’s a six letter catch-all.

It can have a host of symptoms from coughing, to shortness of breath, to wheezing, to chest tightness.

It can be asymptomatic, or relatively mild, or severe enough to require treatment in the intensive care unit.

It can be treated with inhalers and nebs, pills and injections.

It can affect somebody for two minutes a year, or twenty four hours a day.

It can be anything but simple, and there is no such thing as typical.

But most importantly . . .

It can be owned,

it can be lived with

. . . and it can be thrived with.