“Do you know the overwhelming feeling you get when you see someone that you haven’t seen in forever? Like when you get that really happy feeling, your chest – your heart is beating really fast? I get that feeling – but my heart beats way too fast, and all of a sudden it feels like someone is putting a bag of boulder rocks on my chest, that I can’t breathe to the point that I will blackout.”

Senior Anita Mullins has asthma, a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. It’s usually associated with coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and  severe attacks which tighten the airways. Though some people may believe asthma to be a mild condition, in her case it is actually very serious. Every day becomes a challenge for her.

When Mullins was 15 months old, she had a near-death experience from a severe asthma attack. The causes were unknown, but it started progressing. Due to being on a breathing machine constantly, Mullins had to be home-schooled until the age of  seven. After the age of seven, her asthma miraculously disappeared. However, asthma doesn’t just disappear, there is no cure. Mullins recently found this out in the beginning of last year, and it has become worse.

“So far in the beginning of this school year, I’ve probably had about 20 asthma attacks already. It’s crazy,” Mullins said. With these attacks, Mullins tends to faint and blackout, not knowing what happened when she wakes up. “I just fall to the ground. Honestly it scares me, just thinking about it and knowing it can happen anytime… ” She says that she has fainted at school at least 4 times in these past months.

Almost anything can trigger an asthma attack, from there being too much Arizonan dust, to simply walking up the stairs, to even having any strong smells around her. “I have had at least two attacks from food smells…One of them, which is completely weird, is brussel sprouts. My mom used to make it all the time, but now since it affects me, she can’t make it and it’s her favorite food, ” Mullins said sorrily about her mother.  She feels her asthma has become a huge burden to her family.

“I was so happy knowing that I didn’t have asthma attacks when it stopped. Now having it back makes me really sad because I can’t do certain things. I can’t go up to the mountains or riding places that me and family used to go to. We used to ride ATV’s and go everywhere, having so much fun. I can’t do that anymore.” Mullins looked as if she was almost tearing up. “It breaks my heart. It breaks my parents’ hearts to see that I can’t go with them.”

In having these asthma attacks again, Mullins had to reschedule everything. Because she can’t use an inhaler for this asthma or certain medications because it also can affect her breathing, every day she goes on a breathing machine at home. She’s on the machine for at least 2 hours and then after it she can’t eat for about 3 hours. Because of that her doctor warns her to watch out of malnutrition.

She also has given up things like sports (she wanted to play soccer or volleyball), and possibly her plan to join the Navy. If that happens, Mullins thinks that after high school she might go to college and become a nurse or therapist. “Because I want people to talk with me. No matter my breathing problems, I want to be there for people. I want people to come to me for help.”

I met Anita Mullins in the 7th or 8th grade. We were pretty good friends; we played the violin together in orchestra and often joked around with nonsensical antics. I never knew how much pain she carried inside of her. I asked why she never told me she had asthma in the past, and she said that she was a little ashamed of it. She is uncomfortable telling  people about herself, and that’s why only a handful of people know. Which is a problem, because with people spraying perfume in classrooms or bringing in foods – you don’t know that it can cost someone else’s life. And so, Mullins expresses her advice to people around her: Listen, and help her if she collapses from yet another attack, instead of walking away or spraying perfume around her.

For me, Anita Mullins with or without asthma has always been strong, confident, and brave. Though she may not see herself that way, I believe she is really inspiring. And I believe many people will think so too once they hear her story.