Carly was seven when she woke in the middle of the night, unable to breathe. She’d been sleeping on a feather pillow at a friend’s house. Within hours she was curled on a hospital floor, fighting for air and convinced she was dying.
“That fear has stayed with me,” she says. “Asthma followed me everywhere. My childhood and teens were filled with breathlessness, streaming eyes, and frustration. Asthma attacks are terrifying. You truly feel like you’re going to die.”
Carly was diagnosed with severe asthma, the most serious and life-threatening form of the condition, affecting around 200,000 people in the United Kingdom.
Allergies meant she couldn’t eat certain foods or be near animals like horses without gasping for breath. Her younger adult life was marked by flare-ups, steroids, and frequent hospital visits.
At 30, everything changed. After a devastating attack, she woke up in intensive care and spent a week in hospital. Soon after, she discovered she was pregnant.
“Realising another set of lungs relied entirely on mine was overwhelming.”
Carly sought help at Jersey General Hospital and was referred to specialists at University Hospital Southampton, including Professor Hans Michael Haitchi, who is also an asthma researcher at the University of Southampton. She began Mepolizumab, a breakthrough treatment developed through research in Southampton and approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
“After a few months, my life began to change. I stopped waking in the night, gasping. For the first time, things felt possible.”
Today, Carly is active, fundraising, and preparing for the London Marathon.
“Asthma will always be part of my life,” she says. “But it no longer defines my limits. I’m not running from it anymore. I’m running with it.”
