Mary Joe Fernandez hanging out with her son.
Photo courtesy of EveryoneBreathe.com

Take a Swing at Asthma

Tennis, anyone? For 2 weeks in late summer, the center stage of sports belongs to the US Open Tennis Tournament in Flushing Meadows, the 4^th and final Grand Slam tennis event of the season.

To mark the occasion, Grand Slam tennis champ and TV broadcaster Mary Joe Fernandez is serving up advice to help parents and kids with asthma learn all they can about the chronic disease that inflames and narrows airways, making it hard to breathe.

More than 16 million adults and 7 million children in the U.S. have asthma.

Diagnosed with asthma at the age of 20 and mother to son Nicholas who also has asthma, Mary Joe is doing a live video web chat on September 13 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm EDT.

Topics will include how she overcame the challenges of asthma to achieve a successful tennis career as well as tips for parents to get the best care for their kids who have the persistent breathing problem.

To register for the live video webcast and submit your question, visit EveryoneBreathe.com http://www.everyonebreathe.com/, a website sponsored by pharmaceutical company Sepracor Inc. that features downloadable tools for parents such as a Back-to-School checklist, Asthma Action Plan, and Trigger Tracker.

The live chat with Mary Joe Fernandez will also appear on the website in October and be available for about one year.