When he was 11 months old he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and his mum was warned it was highly likely he would be an asthmatic child.
He often gets short of breath, has lower than normal saturation levels - which means he isn't getting enough oxygen - and an attack of asthma can have him flat on his back in half an hour.
James spent the best part of his childhood at the Whanganui Hospital.
"Everybody at the hospital knows James," Mrs Bishop said. "He has his own room up there, and they call him a frequent flyer."
Growing up with asthma, says James, was "quite annoying".
"I wouldn't be able to do everything other kids could. I wasn't able to stay away from home because I'd get quite bad anxiety."
Mrs Bishop said because James' asthma was severe, they went to see a counsellor for six months.
"He was so scared about dying ... it was a really awful time for everyone.
"He had a really good paediatrician who said to him, 'As long as you have your medication and your mum and dad will always get you to hospital and we will be here to help, you will be fine'."
James carries three inhalers at all times - Ventolin, Seretide and Flixotide. He also takes one montelukast pill every night before bed.
Mrs Bishop knows Whanganui isn't a good place for asthmatics and every year they think about moving.
"But we have strong family ties here and James doesn't want to leave ... Whanganui is home."
So why then are 23 per cent of Whanganui's children - James among them - asthmatic?
Dr Tristram Ingham, scientific adviser for the NZ Asthma Foundation and a University of Otago researcher, said the health board areas most affected by asthma seemed to be those with a high Maori population and/or low socio-economic areas.
"Twenty years ago the prevalence was thought to be about the same between all ethnic groups," he said.
"But recent years has seen a decrease of hospitalisation in European groups but that hasn't occurred for Maori and Pasifika so they are missing out on the benefits of some of the advances that have been made."
The Otago University study showed that when it came to mortality from asthma, Maori were significantly higher.
Dr Ingham said Maori accounted for three times the rate of hospitalisation and more than five-and-a-half times the death rate.
"We know asthma occurs in cold damp housing, through exposure to smoke and even poverty - if you can't afford the medication or the doctor's visits or the access to transport, it becomes a lot harder to maintain treatment."
Whanganui has its share of damp and cold houses.
A cold lake of water sitting underneath a house; the temperature of a child's bedroom only 5C; mould was growing inside a family home - it sounds like a nightmare but eco-design adviser Nelson Lebo has seen it all.
Five years ago Mr Lebo started the HEAT (home energy awareness training) initiative in Whanganui - the project was about helping people understand how heat and moisture flow through a home.
"Human lungs do not like cold damp air, so we have two options. One is to dry the air out and two is to warm the air up ... and ideally we do both."
But Mr Lebo said every house was different and it was about finding an option that suited the family budget and lifestyle.
Three years ago, after the Whanganui District Council said it would not fund a healthy homes project, Mr Lebo took up a job as an eco-design adviser for the Palmerston North District Council.
He offers free advice to residents, architects, designers and builders on sustainable design and energy options for homes.
"I've been in over 1000 homes and had families in tears because their children are going to the hospital once a week with respiratory distress."
And he said Whanganui houses were a lot worse than Palmerston North.
"There are a lot of areas in Whanganui on flat ground or on clay soils, which means poor drainage because the water has nowhere to go.
"And then you have houses that are under-insulated, you have landlords that are not investing very much into rental properties and the cost of living, especially rent, keeps going up.
"As a result you have a lot of families who don't heat their homes, which is a shame because it comes back to cost the medical system much more in dollars than it would to help people have warmer, drier homes," Mr Lebo said.
So what is being done to reduce Whanganui's high asthma rates in children?
Whanganui Regional Health Network clinical director Julie Nitschke said the focus had been on supporting the Healthy Homes initiative and educating patients and parents with health literacy.
Healthy Homes project manager Angela Weekly said Whanganui had a significant percentage of overcrowded and damp houses, a major contributor to asthma.
The Whanganui Healthy Homes programme provides owner-occupants or landlords a subsidised rate to insulate their home - but they have to meet the criteria.
They need a community service card and a family member living in the home needs to have a proven medical condition, such as asthma.
"If they meet the criteria, I pass the referral to EECA (Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority), a government agency that works to improve energy efficiency of New Zealand homes.
"EECA will do a more in-depth assessment on the financial circumstance and, basically, if it's an owner-occupied house they only have to come up with 50 per cent and, if it's a rental property, the landlord will pay 30 per cent," Ms Weekly said.
The rest of the funding comes from EECA, the Regional Health Network, the Whanganui health board and community trusts.
Ms Weekly said 157 homes had been insulated since the project started.
"Homeowners get Batts put in the ceilings and renters get Batts in the ceiling and underfloor insulation.
"We are unsure how long the programme will continue, but we have funding until June next year."
Whanganui clinical pharmacist Sala Tiko-temo has been working with asthma patients and their parents to educate and enforce "more effective treatment plans".
She said people get prescribed inhalers all the time and it was assumed they knew how to use them - but her job was getting patients to understand why they had been prescribed the inhaler.
"It's also about getting the parents to understand the triggers and the difference between the inhalers," Mrs Tiko-temo said.
Since mid-2015 every child presenting asthma should receive action plans on what to do and when.
"Most families think they only need to use the inhalers when they get sick but we are trying to encourage consistency with management to get on top of asthma and identify the triggers."
Mrs Tiko-temo said the health literacy project had helped reduce readmission but preventing the triggers was still an issue.
"Getting a warm home and having a dehumidifier costs money and I've spoken to a lot of families ... there are a lot of limits to the Healthy Homes project."
Elsewhere, University of Otago researcher Bernadette Jones is completing a study to identify support for asthma patients in primary schools, and her project includes two schools in Whanganui.
She said there was a large amount of funding for asthma support in schools internationally, but not in New Zealand.
"When children spend about 40 per cent of their day at school, it seems strange we do not have that support there.
"Most years we have asthma deaths at school. If the support was there those deaths could have been prevented."
Ms Jones said her research showed parents unhappy with the level of support and teachers eager to learn.
"We also hope to reduce the number of days asthma patients have to take off school.
"Some schools don't even know what students have an asthma condition - and that's not the fault of the parent or teacher, it is because there is no system in place."