Winston Salem Times

The challenge of having a child with asthma turned to horror for Winston-Salem mother Ashley Hairston when her 11-year-old son died during spring break.

Now, Hairston wants to tell her story to educate others about asthma.

Her son, Hayden, was diagnosed with asthma at age 2. While Hairston realized it would be a battle to balance keeping him healthy while letting him enjoy life, she didn’t expect his life to end so abruptly on April 11.

“I heard a muffled sound in the back like, ‘Ma,’” she recounted to WFMY News 2. “So my heart just started fluttering, and you may ask why, but I had never heard him make (that kind of noise) before. I'd never heard him be so muffled calling my name.” 

She went to check on him. “Hayden was leaning over the sink in the bathroom and he was like, 'Mom, I can't breathe,’” she told WFMY News 2.

She administered a breathing treatment so they could make it to the emergency room. The treatment, though, had little effect and Hairston had to call 911.

Emergency medical techs worked on Hayden for close to 40 minutes before they took him to Brenner's Children's Hospital in Winston-Salem. Although doctors did everything they could, the boy died later that day at the hospital.

"He just was an amazing kid -- and I'm not saying that because he was mine -- but he really was like an amazing kid,” Hairston told WFMY News 2. “He was a ball of light. He was 11 and played sports. He played basketball, baseball and football. He was amazing at drums; he started playing when he was 2. He played tenor, snare, he was learning the quince. He was just a ray of sunshine.”

The message Hairston wants to highlight is that even if you think you have an illness under control, you can’t stop being vigilant because things can take a turn for the worse quickly. Hairston doesn't want any other parents, family members or communities to have to go through the experience she has had over the last month.