Most people know Pete Hieatt as the affable landscape expert on Network Ten’s Guerrilla Gardeners series.

To see him hard at work – transforming urban eyesores into an oasis of greenery - you’d never know that he has struggled with asthma all his life. But he has, and it took its toll on this TV personality ... especially as a child.

Pete was just two when he was diagnosed with asthma. His asthma was chronic until he was 15, and his childhood memories of numerous hospital admissions still haunt him today. When Pete was a child, so much less was known about asthma and how to manage it.

The young Pete also had to deal with ignorance on the playground. A natural athlete who would later excel at rowing and swimming, he was often sidelined during sports as teachers feared it would exacerbate his asthma.

Being treated with kid gloves by the teachers was hard, feeling different from his school mates was worse.

“I did feel different as a kid,” Pete acknowledges. “I always felt that my asthma drew attention to me, and I hated that. I remember hiding in the toilets to use my puffer.”

“My frustration back then had a lot to do with the fact that there was no peer support and nobody to turn to,” he says. “There seems to be a lot more programs, services and support these days, thanks to the Asthma Foundation ... and that’s great! … when you’re living with asthma, you can go from being fine to being in a dangerous position very, very quickly. That’s why education is vital.”

Pete Hieatt is sharing his story to increase awareness of asthma, and the need for it to be well managed. Pete is convinced that his childhood asthma experience would have been very different had he been able to access the asthma services and support that are provided by the Asthma Foundation of SA today.

Today, information and services for people with asthma are available – yet too many Australians remain complacent or uninformed about their asthma. Pete was horrified to learn that over 380 Australians die from asthma each year and less than 1 in 5 Australians with asthma have a written Asthma Action Plan.

We are too. That’s why the Foundation has developed a free information service, to help people better understand and manage their asthma. It is vital that we promote this service to the 1 in 9 children and 1 in 10 adults in Australia affected by the condition. Australia still has one of the highest rates of asthma in the world.

You can help us spread the word this summer by donating to this Appeal. Your tax-deductible gift will not only help to fund asthma education and training, it will also help to boost research into better treatments...and ultimately, a cure for asthma.

Please, help Australians with asthma to breathe freely by donating what you can today.

Thank you

David Bedson
Chief Executive
Asthma Foundation of SA

PS: Rest assured that your tax-deductible donation will make a difference to men, women and children with asthma. Your gift could also help fund the next major breakthrough in asthma research.