I was watching the news (well, NBC Nightly News, to be specific) last night, and they ran a story on children with allergies and asthma attacks. The key point was that a doctor was equipping his child patients with camcorders, and letting them document their environments, their symptoms, and their attacks. It's rather interesting to see some obvious triggers in the kids' houses, with the families completely oblivious to them—like the home with mould on the ceiling!

It was heartbreaking to watch the kids, even in the brief clips. I could relate exactly, having grown up asthmatic and stricken with a slew of allergies (albeit a smaller set than I now have). One clip features an adorable little girl, sitting on her mother's lap, explaining that she can't go run and play with her friends, proceeding to cry on her mother's shoulder. I wanted to hug the poor kid, and tell her it would be alright. I was right there with her as a child, with a fantastic mix of grass allergies and asthma, that made playing in a big field torture, and led to many, many disagreements with gym coaches as I got a bit older.

The video can be watched on the NN website on MSNBC, with an accompanying blog entry with more info and links.