Respiratory research

Respiratory illness is a major health concern for children worldwide. In Australia, more than 50 per cent of infants will be affected by some kind of respiratory virus in their first year of life. By the age of two this figure will have almost doubled to a staggering 95 per cent. Shockingly, one in four Australian children suffer from asthma.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition that affects one in 2500 babies in Australia. Although the prognosis for CF sufferers has improved considerably due to international research into this chronic disease, it is still universally fatal. Children born today with CF have a life expectancy into their 40s, which has virtually doubled in the past 30 years thanks to investment in research.

Almost 2000 children from across Queensland with chronic respiratory conditions, like asthma and cystic fibrosis, visited the Royal Children’s Hospital for treatment in 2009, including one-year-old Charlie.

Little Charlie was born with tracheomalacia: a rare respiratory condition in which the windpipe (trachea) is narrow and excessively floppy. A healthy or normal windpipe in an infant has an inner diameter of about five millimetres. Charlie’s airway was around two millimetres.

His condition is like to suffocating, or drowning, all the time – and every breath is a real struggle. Charlie (or ‘Charlie Boy’ as his doting mum, Min, calls him) is on oxygen 24 hours a day, and tragically, life-threatening emergencies are all too common for Charlie.

Charlie's respiratory specialist Associate Professor Paul Francis said: "Charlie is not the average child with respiratory complications – he is at the extreme end.

"While Charlie is unique, research into respiratory viruses and their impact on airways will have a direct spin off and benefits for Charlie...as special as he is."

There's nothing more distressing than seeing a child who cannot breathe, and sadly, there is still far too much that our researchers need to learn about respiratory illnesses.

QT Mutual Bank and the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation have partnered together for the Kids Breathe Easy program so that all kids might have the chance to run and play and dance, and just be kids. We believe that investment in research through the Kids Breathe Easy program will realise this dream for the future generation of Queensland kids.