'Changes in weather, vapes and air fresheners trigger life-threatening asthma attacks': Mum-of-two's 20-year ordeal

“Fighting for breath is a terrifying experience, there are times my husband has been so worried about my health that he’s been forced to call an ambulance. I’ve spent weeks in hospital, away from my children - that’s hard to take.”

A mum-of-two is sharing her 20-year ordeal with asthma in a bid to raise awareness about the realities of life with severe asthma and how serious and terrifying the condition can be.

Jo Pond, 40, from Northenden, has been stuck in a vicious cycle of life-threatening asthma attacks and steroid tablet treatment for her severe asthma, which has landed her in hospital countless times since she was diagnosed with asthma aged 20. The primary school teacher was able to control her asthma for more than a decade, but after becoming pregnant with her first daughter her breathing rapidly deteriorated and she was diagnosed with severe asthma, the most serious type, eight years ago.

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Jo lives close by to the M56 with her husband and two girls, nine and three. On busy days finds that the air pollution caused by road traffic emissions can worsen her asthma symptoms, which include a persistent cough and tight chest. Her story comes after new analysis from Asthma + Lung UK, which shows people in places such as Liverpool, Blackpool and Manchester are more likely to be admitted to hospital in an emergency and die from their lung condition than elsewhere in England amid a stark north-south divide in the nation’s lung health.

Jo wants people to know the condition can be life-threatening - and is not just something sufferers grow out of in childhood.

“I was diagnosed with normal asthma when I was 20 at university. My symptoms