Despite struggling with asthma his whole life, Nelson Ku never let the disease hold him back.
The sixth grader often used a nebulizer to help him breathe, but he kept his symptoms controlled and was never a regular emergency room visitor, his father Dr. H. Peter Ku said.
鈥淗e was very active,鈥� Ku said. 鈥淗e would be outside running around and come (inside) and would barely be able to catch his breath.鈥�
Nelson was placed on a new regimen by his allergist in early 2024. The medication gave him more freedom, and he no longer woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air. His parents were hopeful that Nelson鈥檚 asthma would be more manageable going forward.
But in February of that year, Nelson suffered an asthma attack during lacrosse practice. He wasn鈥檛 able to breathe for several minutes. By the time he arrived at the nurse鈥檚 office at All Saints鈥� Episcopal School, he had suffered a heart attack. Nelson died later that day.
Ku doesn鈥檛 blame any person or institution for his son鈥檚 death. However, he thinks improved training and education for those around Nelson might have saved his life.
Asthma is a treatable condition. Experts say that most asthma deaths could be prevented by more readily accessible education about the disease. Through campaigns like Asthma Peak Week, which falls on the third week of September when emergency room visits for asthma spike, public agencies and private organizations attempt to instigate more conversations about the disease.
鈥淎t the end of the day, it鈥檚 important that we put awareness to it,鈥� Ku said. 鈥淏ecause of the fact that we have medications to help control it and help take care of it, my belief is that no child should ever have to die from asthma.鈥�
A resting concern
About 140,000 adults and 42,000 children in Tarrant County suffer from asthma, according to the . The disease causes swelling in a person鈥檚 airway lining, resulting in shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing.
Which triggers cause an asthma attack?
- Indoor and outdoor allergens such as mold and pollen
- Emotional stress
- Physical activity
- Poor air quality
- Infections such as the flu or COVID-19
- Certain medicines
About nine people in the United States die due to asthma complications each day, according to from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While adults are more likely to die from the disease than children, 166 people under the age of 18 died from asthma complications in 2023.
Annual asthma deaths have decreased since 1999, according to the . Still, the death rate has not improved over the last 10 years.
Kenneth Mendez, CEO and president of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, said the annual national economic impact from asthma, looking at both medical costs and missed days of work, is around $115 billion.
鈥淭hose numbers are really important as we think about policy decisions and think about ways that we can keep people from dying, keep people out of the emergency room, keep people from missing school days or work days,鈥� Mendez said.
Some individuals with the disease suffer worse than others. Although there are no uniform descriptors of what defines severe asthma, symptoms are often disabling, said Dr. Lavanya Srinivasan, a pulmonary medicine expert at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth.
鈥�(The) inability to breathe is a terrible sensation,鈥� Srinivasan said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like having your head dumped in a bucket of water and somebody is asking you to breathe.鈥�
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of asthma patients visiting the emergency room has increased. Last year saw the highest number of people in Texas admitted to hospitals and emergency departments for asthma since 2020, according to data.
Increasing awareness and investment
In Fort Worth, hospitals and clinics continue to invest in ways to improve the lives of asthma patients.
Baylor Scott & White launched a new asthma clinic in Fort Worth last month that offers personalized and comprehensive care, including services ranging from breathing tests to one-on-one educational sessions, Srinivasan said.
鈥淲e definitely want to be able to offer not just the breathing tests but also the education that goes along with it, to be able to ensure that we are able to help support them with questions that can come later on,鈥� she said.
Cook Children鈥檚 Medical Center recently opened the Nelson Ku High-Risk Asthma Clinic in June.
The clinic offers education and one-on-one physician support to children identified as high-risk asthmatics and provides families with education and information to help better control their children鈥檚 disease.
鈥淥ur goal is to decrease the number of hospital admissions and ER visits that those patients have, that they have the tools, and that their asthma baseline is controlled well enough that their exacerbations are not as severe,鈥� said Dr. Karen Schultz, a pediatric pulmonologist at Cook Children鈥檚.
The clinic trains educators and school employees to better identify and react to asthma attacks.
As of Sept. 4, 97 kids have visited the clinic. Ku said Cook Children鈥檚 proposed naming the clinic after Nelson in an effort to work with the family to promote asthma education.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to idolize my son because he鈥檚 not there to be idolized, but we want his story to be told,鈥� Ku said.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .
This first appeared on and is republished here under a .