Back in May I did a challenge for Asthma & Lung UK. This involved hula hooping for fifteen minutes every day which I thought would be easy enough to do – how wrong I was! When my hula hoop arrived, complete with unicorns and sparkly tape I discovered that I could not hula hoop at all. My frantic movements made absolutely no difference to the revolutions the hoop made. It was then that I realised that it was going to be a very tough month!
Did you know that 1 in 5 people will have a respiratory condition over their life time? That there are 5.4 million people living in the UK with asthma? Lung disease is the third commonest cause of death in the UK and yet there are areas of the UK where the air pollution exceeds the World Health’s Organisations recommended limits. All of this is pretty shocking and also something that could be changed. Asthma & Lung, as a not-for-profit organisation are literally fighting for breath. The work they do changes lives and lobbies the government to act. If you know anyone living with a lung condition their website is packed full of resources and there are support groups and helplines available: asthmaandlung.org.uk
The first week of hula hooping was beyond tough, I hurt my back picking the hoop up, I hurt my shoulder from spinning it so much, but I was determined as I know first hand how hard patients with respiratory conditions struggle every day. By the end of the month I could hula hoop continuously for nearly 5 minutes which felt like a massive achievement and was a massive effort. What was even better though was the people who supported me and I raised a massive £860 and collectively £35,111.98 was raised which is phenomenal and will go towards research and providing help for respiratory patients. I was delighted when I received a hand written letter to say I was one of the top five fundraisers, made the sweat and tears worth it!
