Breath of Life: Asthma

From site:  PEOPLE EVERYWHERE IN EVERY AGE have struggled with asthma in different ways, but the feeling of breathlessness remains central to the disease. Today, asthma is a serious, widespread problem affecting an estimated 15 million people in the United States. But what is asthma? Who has asthma and why? Have its prevalence and impact grown dramatically in our time? Can it be managed, prevented, or cured? How do people cope with asthma?

To search for answers, this exhibition examines the medical and human history of asthma. The times and places in which people live shape their experience of the disease. Healers battle it using the tools and knowledge of their time. People from all ages and walks of life are here--poets and politicians, doctors and demagogues, singers and sports heroes--all who have responded valiantly, often creatively, to the challenges of living productively with asthma. The exhibition concludes with resources for coping with asthma today, and a glimpse of what the future might bring.