Really.  I filmed a Mutual of Omaha AHA Moment!  Heather Lunsford of the American Lung Association in Reno, invited me to film my moment.  It was a no trainer since my moment was so incredibly simple, powerful and life changing.  The video below is the Reader’s Digest version and the much longer version, below that.  I love telling this story since years later, the advise was true and made of gold.

The Long Winded AHA Moment Version:

Almost thirteen years ago, while visiting my father in my hometown of Albany, California, as I was cleaning out the attic, I noticed my son’s cold was morphing into something that was causing him to cough really hard to the point of vomiting mucus.  When it didn’t calm down, I decided it was time to take him to Urgent Care.  I knew Children’s Hospital in Oakland has an Urgent Care Clinic, but you had to be triaged over from the Emergency Room.  So, I grabbed my car keys, credit card, health insurance card, son and drove off.  I didn’t bother changing out of my torn and stained shirt and holey jeans.  My son was two and half years old and was in great spirits as we waited our turn and made friends in the waiting area.  Once called in, he was immediately whisked off to an Emergency room, no Urgent Care.  He was retracting and working very hard for each breath!  He was smiling the whole time and this shocked me, but when the nurse pulled up his shirt, you could see his chest sucking in hard.  I didn’t see that one coming!  He was having a severe asthma attack and one lung was barely getting any air.

 image courtesy of Children’s Hospital Oakland, CA

The treatment rooms held three patients and only a curtain to give patients privacy.  Needless to say, my son wanted the curtain open to see who else was in the room.  We spent eight hours receiving breathing treatments in that room.  Due to his long list of allergens, the doctors felts the food in the hospital would not be safe.  He was not allowed to eat and I did not have any food with me.  Lesson number one learned:  always carry allergen safe food in the back of the car!  I had the interesting experience of sitting with a group of gang members, who were more than happy to share their stories of shootings and life in a gang.  As the hours ticked on, Cyrus made friends with the little girl of my new gang member friends and he would dance for her!  She had pneumonia.  It was surreal watching him take in treatment after treatment while listening to a life so foreign to me.  Yet, the two little ones were the same:  taking in breathing treatments with worried parents at their sides.  We were the same at that moment in time-concerned parents.  I wondered how life turned out for that little girl.  Did she grow up to join a gang too?

image courtesy of Renjith Kristhtan via Freedigitalphotos.net

Finally, evening arrived and the hospital was full!  The doctors wanted to transfer my son to a hospital miles away.  This was not appealing in any sense.  Then, by surprise, the doctor offered that since we looked intelligent enough (my husband arrived wearing suit, so I think they were referring to him); we could take home my son, stay up all night and continue to give him treatments and return by 8am the next morning.  We opted for plan B.  After driving like maniacs to get to a pharmacy before 9pm to buy the needed medications, we  made it to my dad’s house and stayed up all night.  We returned the next morning and he had improved.

This is Gail, the owner of Toy Go Round who pointed my family in the right direction! This image is courtesy of the Albany Patch.

Exhausted and not knowing what to do next, I took my son to Toy Go Round on Solano Avenue in Albany, which is a fabulous toy consignment store (new toys too).  I shared my story with the shop owner, Gail and she took the time to give me my AHA moment!  She explained that I can was going to get through this just fine and that my son will live a fabulous life with controlled asthma!   She detailed how her son was living at high altitude, playing LaCrosse and has a dog.  She told me that would be my son too one day.  Her AHA tip:  when my son is old enough, find an American Lung Association Asthma Camp and teach him how to control his asthma!  I promised I would get him into camp.

When he was barely five years old, he attended his first asthma camp and subsequently each camp as the years ticked on.  He became confident, healthier and was completely empowered to manage his disease.  He was so grateful for Asthma Camp that he began fundraising via a local Asthma Walk.  To date, he has raised close to $30, 000.  He saw the changes in his fellow campers and himself and was inspired to raise money to keep camp going.

Gail was my AHA moment when I was feeling completely overwhelmed and confused. We had received the long list of life threatening food allergies only six months prior and I thought his respiratory issues were going to toss me over the cliff.  But…not so, since I learned there was a nation wide army ready and waiting to help me out.  Naturally, my entire family became involved with the American Lung Association and I’m past chair of our local leadership board, at Secretary/Treasurer on our regional board and am part of our national assembly.  It’s easy to volunteer and be passionate when you experience the success of our programs.

What was your AHA moment with Asthma or Food Allergies?  I invite you to share it below in the comments.