Our background
The Breathing Life Trust, a registered charity, was formed in April 2004 with the principal aim of saving the lives of children suffering from the rarest, most complex and often life threatening respiratory conditions as well as helping children with breathing disorders.
For the past three years we have sought to raise awareness and campaign for the creation of The Breathing Life Lung Centre For Children in Cyprus.
It is vital for the children of Cyprus as there is currently no medical centre of excellence for treating lung diseases in children on the island.
Our charity aims to raise over £197,000 (262,000 euros) to fund the purchase of the equipment needed for the new Breathing Life Lung Centre for Children
Respiratory diseases account for the largest cause of illnesses and mortality during childhood. They represent in terms of severity the equivalent of cardiovascular diseases in adults.
In Cyprus, Asthma represents the most chronic disease in children and is acquiring characteristics of an epidemic. Frequency of Asthma was recently found to affect 8-11% of the total number of school age children in the district of Nicosia and 6% in the district of Limassol. In addition, it appears that 1 out of every 5 pre-school age children suffer at least one or more episodes of bronchospasm and wheezing before the age of 6 years.
Other respiratory infections like pneumonia, bronchitis and bronchioitis and a wide list of other rarer and more severe lung diseases affecting children such as Cystic Fibrosis, Bronchiectasis, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia are potentially life threatening for children and are also on the increase in Cyprus.
In 2007 of the admissions of newborn babies to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Makarios III Hospital, 55% related to severe respiratory difficulties and 28% of the admissions on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital were for severe lung diseases or complications arising out of lung conditions.