Sebastian Chaumeton

Artist with Asthma Runs for his Life

I had Asthma when I was a kid. My father did too. He always told me he swam for his lungs, "exercise and you'll grow out of it!'. So off I ran. I played sports, had mini Asthma attacks, hit my inhaler on side lines and carried on. I was fortunate enough that my type of Asthma did eventually fall to the way side through my teenage years and early twenties. But a couple years back a wheezy wind whispered of a sequel.

Coincidently I was running, an activity that sustained me both physically and mentally in my adult life, when it hit me. Mid run I was suddenly short of breath. Choked up and wheezing once again I was tight chested, confused and had to walk home . Turns out it's quite common for those with childhood Asthma to naturally "grow out of it" as their lungs grow in parallel but then experience it again once it catches up in their late twenties! It was as if my body had hit its' tolerance.

Technically I now have an allergy induced Asthma to grass, trees and dust. Which is basically everywhere in the air... I'm essentially allergic to LIFE! But that's beside the point. This sudden change put me into mental well of which the light was small and the walls tall. The very tool of running I had to stave of such feelings was also now out of reach. A year + long back and forth of testing, trial, error and support eventually put me back into myself. Short story long I'm running again. Since my medication helped stabilise my allergies and lungs I run now to strengthen and sustain myself. I decided to set myself the slightly ironic goal of running a marathon with Asthma. I'm sure I'm not the first but it's a first for me!

Now I'm no scientist but the folk at Athma + Lung UK are! They say every minute, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a lung condition. I'm running the London Marathon to inspire others in similar situations and help raise funds for research into lung disease so that we all step closer to a world where everyone has healthy lungs.

I will be doing a bunch of creative fun raising events such as auctioning my paintings and speed portraiture in the coming months! 

Follow along on my artists instagram @by5ebastian