Tyler was 2-years-old when he had his first Asthma attack. For 25 years Tyler and his family had learned to live with his asthma. We thought we knew everything we needed to know. Tyler would make multiple trips to the doctor's office and emergency rooms over the years. Tyler always had his inhaler everywhere he went and used it nearly every day. At one point Tyler had been on a daily medication that helped control his Asthma and decreased the need for his rescue inhaler. While it didn't cure him it made his Asthma a lot more manageable.

Unfortunately due to being unemployed and no longer having health insurance those medications where just too expensive for him to continue using. Neither Tyler nor his family was educated enough about Asthma to know what a dangerous game he was playing going without that medication. As long as he had his inhaler he would be all right...right? Besides, people don't really die from asthma, do they?

December 7, 2010 we took Tyler off of life support and he passed away a short time later. He had been hospitalized two days earlier after he suffered a major asthma attack while at home. Tyler had his rescue inhaler however that alone just was not enough. Within minutes Tyler completely stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest which caused major brain damage.

After Tyler's death our family looked back and tried to figure out what we could have done different to prevent his death. We know that no amount of second guessing will bring Tyler back; however maybe we can prevent another family from going through the same tragedy we did. Our family has started the Tyler Pratt Asthma Foundation in an effort to promote Asthma awareness, education and prescription assistance. We hope to do great things in his memory.

We are ready to tackle Asthma, are you?