Kids health: How one family copes with severe breathing problems - 'You've got to be disciplined'

Chloe Crump, 6, takes six medications a day for her breathing problems. 'She's pretty good and she just gets on with it," her mother Rachael says. Photo / Alan Gibson

Chloe Crump has a harder life than most.

She was diagnosed with severe asthma at age two and as a toddler had regular chest infections and asthma attacks. At four years old she was diagnosed with bronchiectasis, a condition in which the airways are damaged and which causes a relentless, wet cough.

The incurable condition is associated with elderly people, yet more New Zealand children are getting it every year.

Now six years old, Chloe takes six different medications a day, and does three 20-minute sessions of chest physiotherapy a day to clear her airways. She can only go to school part-time, and she ends up in hospital up to six times a year.

• SEE MORE: NZ kids' big breathing problem

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"Obviously she doesn't have a normal life but it's her normal," said her mother Rachael Crump. "She's pretty good and she just gets on with it."

"She has grown to keep going. She's good like that."

Rachael Crump says daughter Chloe just gets on with it despite illness putting her in hospital up to six times a year. Photo / Alan Gibson

The first step to managing Chloe's breathing difficulties was improving her environment. Their house was already insulated. They also installed a heat pump and bought microfiber bedding - which keeps out dust mites - and thermal curtains.

The family keeps Chloe active because exercise makes her lungs stronger. She does weekly swimming lessons and occasional dance lessons - though they are careful not to overdo it. She has an active social life.

Rachael said the family surrounds itself with understanding people -"If you're offered help, take it," she said. They depend on a highly supportive GP and medical team at the local hospital.

The family also educated themselves about Chloe's conditions and how they could manage them every day.

"Yes, it's time consuming," Rachael said. "But if we don't do it we see her getting sicker and sicker.

"You've got to be disciplined. That would be my advice."