I can’t open my windows – the air could land me in hospital

I felt a tightening in my chest and my breathing beginning to rapidly decline (Picture: Lizzie)

Walking along the riverbank in Cheshire in January 2021, I suddenly became aware that I could smell smoke. I knew what was about to happen next… 

Right on cue, I felt a tightening in my chest and my breathing beginning to rapidly decline. An emergency call and a trip to the resuscitation department was sure to follow. 

This experience is nothing new for me. In the last four years, I’ve been rushed to hospital by ambulance more than 20 times and been admitted to intensive care four times – but it’s always scary to see how fast an asthma attack like this takes hold of me. 

And yet, if one thing changed, many of my attacks could so easily be avoided. 

So, when I heard that Asthma + Lung UK were calling on the government to fund a national public campaign to raise awareness of the impacts of air pollution caused by wood burning, I knew I had to speak up. 

By helping people make more informed choices and educate them on how to reduce their own contribution to air pollution, people like me wouldn’t have to suffer so much. 

I was first diagnosed with asthma at the age of 11 (Picture: Lizzie)

I was first diagnosed with asthma at the age of 11. I had mild asthma throughout my teens and used a preventer and reliever inhaler but generally I could play sports and lead an active life. 

Wood burning stoves weren’t much of a trigger back then. Not like they are now.  

However, since I caught Covid in 2020 and developed long Covid as a result, my asthma has become much worse. My symptoms now come on very quickly and include feeling very short of breath. 

Up until then, I’d been able to live a full and unrestricted life. I loved my job as a midwife, and doing outdoor exercise – such as running, horse riding and paddle boarding – used to be a big part of what made me happy. But almost overnight that all changed. 

I had to be very careful to avoid people with viruses (Picture: Lizzie)

Suddenly going for a short walk became a real challenge and because my asthma attacks became more frequent it really affected my job. 

Things like smoke on patients’ clothing affected me more easily, and I had to be very careful to avoid people with viruses and other respiratory infections.

I had to start working non-clinically, then from home and eventually, due to my severe asthma and long Covid symptoms, I had to give up doing a job I loved. 

As a result, I had to spend many months back at my parents’ house as I needed extra help, which meant I forfeited a lot of my freedom and independence too. 

With my attacks becoming more frequent, I started keeping a hospital bag at home, packed and ready for emergencies because the impact could be so sudden.  

A lot of the time I’ve been too ill to leave the house, but even going out for a short 100m walk is important for my physical and mental recovery. 

But these walks don’t always end happily. And that one by the river back in early 2021 is a prime example. 

On that day, my asthma was triggered by some of the narrowboats having wood burning stoves. The smell, or more specifically the air pollution that the stoves created, caused an asthma attack so severe that I was in hospital for two weeks.  

I can’t open my windows and feel the sunshine due to the residual heavy layer of smoke(Picture: Lizzie)

Even now spring is in the air, I remain pretty isolated. I can’t open my windows and feel the sunshine due to the residual heavy layer of smoke from nearby wood burners, or dare risk a walk outdoors. 

Instead, I’ve had no choice but to buy a treadmill so that I can still get some exercise at home but all I really want is a bit of fresh air.  

More and more homes have wood burners these days – or at least it certainly seems that way to me as I’m confident that I’m seeing smoke coming out of more chimneys lately – and for the good of both my health and the planet, that’s a problem that needs to be fixed. 

While road transport is still one of the highest causes for harmful small particle air pollution in the UK, recent research has revealed that the pollution caused by lighting fires (domestic burning) in our homes has more than doubled over the past 10 years. 

Until wood burners are phased out gradually, people like me with serious health conditions will continue to be triggered (Picture: Lizzie)

So, though I really don’t want to have to ask anyone to change their lifestyle because of my asthma, I don’t think I have any choice.  

We really need to raise awareness about the risks of wood burning stoves and open fires because I don’t think a lot of people realise the health risks they pose. 

I was surprised to discover the impact that lighting fires is having. Normally that’s something you’d associate as being a problem in cities where there’s lots of traffic, but it’s becoming a problem everywhere and we must act. 

Until wood burners are phased out gradually, people like me with serious health conditions will continue to be triggered. 

I have been on steroids for four years, but I remain hopeful that my health will improve over time – once me and my severe asthma team can find the right balance of medication – but until then, every day continues to be a struggle. 

I look forward to a future where air pollution from wood burning stoves no longer blights my health and that of so many others with lung conditions. And what keeps me going is the thought that one day I might enjoy life to the fullest again.  

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