Every breath matters
And I grew strong, and I learned how to get along…. Listening to those words being sung at an event I attended last Saturday carried even more meaning than usual. Because they were being performed by a group of people for whom singing can never be taken for granted – those affected by lung diseases such as asthma and COPD.
It was an event organised by Longfonds and Philips as part of our long-standing partnership which aims to increase awareness about the importance of healthy lungs.
Apart from it being a lot of fun, I also valued the initiative for a number of other reasons.
Firstly, as an asthma sufferer myself since I was a young child, I’m only too well aware of the everyday things like singing which lung patients so often miss out on. The event – which actually took place in a former Philips factory – gave hundreds of people the opportunity to take part and join in.
A second reason is that this event contributed to better awareness of the importance of clean air. An increasing number of people are impacted by respiratory conditions, varying from light asthma to severe COPD. Did you know that today, more than 330 million people worldwide suffer from asthma and that this is expected to increase by another 100 million by 2025? Most of us are aware that healthy eating and regular exercise are good for us, but how many people actually know that air quality also has a major impact? Just last week, Longfonds published the results of research where one of the major findings was that in 1 out of 7 Dutch homes the air quality leaves a lot to be desired, impacting personal health. A 2017 study by professor Andersen of Aarhus University in Denmark also revealed sobering data about the link between bad air quality and life expectancy.
Finally, the revenue generated by the event, an amount of 64.221 euro will go to Longfonds, who will use it for research. And that really makes me tick! Highly aware of the importance of effortless breathing, I still hope that one day we will be able to cure respiratory conditions so that all children can play and run without any limits, and adults can sing their heart out and do exercise as much as they like.
In the meantime, as Philips we strive to make people’s lives better through solutions and tools that help sufferers from lung diseases to breathe easier.
Because every breath matters.