Paula Radcliffe's terrifying blackouts that left her wheezing for breath as teen
Paula Radcliffe knows better than most what it's like to struggle to breathe. The 51-year-old British marathon runner was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma at the age of 14, after blacking out several times during her training sessions.
It could have derailed her running career before it had even started, but the athlete was luckily able to control her debilitating condition with the help of inhalers.
But even now, Paula will suffer the effects of toxic air when she travels to cities with poor air quality - like Beijing in China, or New York City. "I can tell if the air quality is bad," she tells the Mirror from her home in Monaco. "I get headaches and nausea, and I feel out of breath."
It's why she's backing a campaign by Health Equals to raise awareness of poor air quality in the UK. Research has found nearly 12 million children are risking their long-term health by going to school in areas with toxic air - and more than 25,000 schools are situated in areas that exceed World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines.
Children from minority ethnic backgrounds are more at risk due to where they live, and air pollution is now the second leading risk factor for death in children aged under five, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Pollution can cause asthma and lung conditions, as well as increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Children who are exposed to high levels of pollutants can even have their life expectancy cut short - with toxic air among the issues that contribute to a shocking 16-year gap in life expectancy across the UK.
Paula, who has daughter Isla and son Raphael with her husband Gary Lough, says the stats left her reeling. 'As somebody who spends a lot of time encouraging kids to get healthy, to get outside, to be physically active, it really is a punch in the stomach to think I might be encouraging them to get out in air that isn't even healthy,' she says.
'My daughters and I can't even breathe inside our own home'
Mum-of-two Angela Fonso moved her family into their new home in Southall, west London, in 2017, but within weeks they had all developed health problems.
A foul smell - "like a petrol station multiplied many times' - oozed through what should have been their safe space, even with all the windows shut.
Angela traced it back to a former gasworks site that was being redeveloped after a neighbour mentioned they could be inhaling carcinogens.
She developed persistent wheezing, while her eldest daughter, now 17, had to be issued an inhaler after becoming asthmatic and getting a persistent cough.
Angela set up the action group Clean Air for Southall and Hayes (CASH) in 2018 to raise awareness of the problems of toxic air. She is haunted by the story of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who in 2013 became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death, after she was exposed to lethal levels near her London home.
Angela's youngest daughter Karen, now 16, says the toxic air has affected her for as long as she can remember - and has even stopped her having a normal childhood.
"When I was in primary school the air pollution was so bad, it stopped me from going to the local park,' she says.
'Even today, I don't want to spend time hanging out with my friends in my home town because the air pollution makes me feel sick.'
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