Breathe easy: How pulmonary rehab gave mum Justyna her life back

Justyna, 46, who grew up in Poland but now lives in Ashford, never expected to be the kind of mum who couldn’t run after her children.

But one morning last winter, watching her seven-year-old son bolt towards a road, she realised she simply couldn’t follow. Her chest tightened, her legs wouldn’t move and all she could do was watch. It was a low moment in her lifelong battle with asthma, but also a turning point.

“If he ran off, I wouldn’t have been able to stop him,” said Justyna. “That moment broke me. My mission to breathe again started there.”

Justyna’s struggle with breathing began early. At just six, while staying with her grandmother, she had her first serious episode. She said: “I was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with spastic bronchitis. It was quite traumatic as a child, being left in hospital. I was in there for four days and family could only visit for an hour each day.”

From that moment on, life came with triggers for asthma. Dust, mould, pollen — even a horsefly bite — could bring on terrifying symptoms.

“I learned my triggers quickly. I remember sleeping upright in winter because it was the only way I could breathe.”

In her early 20s, Justyna moved to the UK to work as a nanny before she trained as a nurse. Stress, grief and life changes triggered more episodes: “When I finished my nursing degree and lost my grandmother, I had a bad flare-up and from then on it kept rearing its ugly head.”

After giving birth to her second child in 2020, Justyna’s asthma worsened: “We’d just returned from a holiday in Cornwall and I genuinely couldn’t breathe, I ended up in A&E again,” she explained. “They rushed scans thinking it was a pulmonary embolism, which thankfully it wasn’t.”

Justyna with physiotherapist Gilliam Fleming

“I was off sick for months and struggled to even get out of bed. My GP said to take it easy, but I wasn’t getting better, even if I just lay there all day. It was also soul-destroying, watching my kids’ childhoods pass me by.”

Then came the suggestion from one of her specialists that changed everything: pulmonary rehab.

Though Justyna had never heard of the treatment, she started the six-week course, consisting of 12 sessions at Ashford Railway Club in March. Each session combined light strength work, aerobic exercise, breathing techniques and group education.

“I’d never even heard of pulmonary rehab,” Justyna admitted. “But I would’ve done anything to feel better and you know what, it did more than that. It changed my life.”

“At first, I felt like the odd one out,” she said. “I was the baby of the group. I remember thinking, ‘I’m barely keeping up with someone in their 60s.’ But it fired me up to do my best.”

She learned practical techniques to manage her condition, like breathing control, pacing and an active cycle of breathing technique (a technique to clear mucus from the airways). “It wasn’t just exercise. It was education and empowerment. The physiotherapists were amazing and we had guest speakers. I still use what they taught us every day.”

She never missed a session: “Even when we flew back from Poland on a late flight and I had an emergency dentist appointment the next morning, I still went. I was addicted to seeing how much I gained from it, how much better I felt.

“By the end of the course, I was skipping up the stairs. I ran home from school with my boys and felt proud, not panicked. It was just 12 weeks, but the difference, well it was life changing.”

Gillian Fleming, Clinical Specialist Respiratory Physiotherapist, said: “Justyna attended the course regularly with enthusiasm and took on the advice, information and education provided. This commitment enabled her to progress in the way she did.”

The real benefits came with family days out, where Justyna could finally start to immerse herself in the social activities she had put on hold before.

She said: “I remember going ice skating with friends before Christmas. After 45 minutes, I was completely done. I had no energy left. Now we can stay out all day, we’ve had full beach days, swimming, playing, building sandcastles and I don’t even want to come home. That just wasn’t possible before.”

Justyna feels confident completing the exercises at home

The emotional impact was just as powerful. “My boys used to ask, ‘Mummy, why are you poorly? You’re a nurse, can’t you fix yourself?’ and I could never answer it. Now I can say: ‘look, Mummy’s done it! She made herself better.’ I am genuinely really proud of what I put in and got back.”

Justyna is now back at work as a neonatal nurse and she and her husband John are planning a trip to climb Mount Snowdon next year with their sons, a celebration of how far she’s come.

“It feels symbolic,” she says. “From not being able to climb the stairs to climbing a mountain, that’s what pulmonary rehab has given me.”

‘It wasn’t just exercise. It was education. Empowerment. The physiotherapists were amazing... I still use what they taught us every day.’