Asthma strikes down Lachlan

Raising a young child with asthma can be a challenging — and often very worrying — experience, according to Baldivis mum Catherine Brooker.

Just four months ago, 3-year-old Lachlan suffered his first stress-induced asthma attack, after becoming locked in a closet — something Mrs Brooker said led to weeks of anguish, as doctors tried to find the right combination of medicines to keep the condition under control.

“It’s been quite challenging — Lachlan is what doctors call a silent asthmatic so he doesn’t wheeze or cough, which makes it more difficult to see if he is having trouble breathing,” she said.

“Luckily, he is quite good and will take our hands, place it on his chest and tell us that he can’t breathe properly.”

Mrs Brooker, who is also mum to two-year-old twins Charlotte and Benjamin, said she did not realise immediately that her son was suffering an attack, after returning home from kindergarten.

“At first I thought he may be having a panic attack but, the next morning, I took him to hospital and they suspected he was suffering from pneumonia,” she said.

“When they told me he had an asthma attack, I couldn’t believe it because he hadn’t been wheezing.

“I worried about giving him steroids, but he had another attack a few weeks later — it’s definitely better for him to be able to breathe, than not breathe.”

The mother-of-three said Lachlan’s condition was now controlled, with Ventolin and oral medication, but she still worried when putting her son to bed.

A spokeswoman for Asthma WA said the condition affected 225,000 West Australians.