Frances Lynch Interview, copyright Victoria Clarke, 2001.

The first thing I notice about Frances Lynch is her jewellery.  An enormous green and gold scarab brooch, chunky gold bracelets, a gold necklace, a diamond-studded Rolex, and the most exquisite antique rings I’ve seen.  She’s like a walking jewellery shop, which is appropriate, as it turns out, because she owns two of them, here in Cork.  We meet at a local golf club, where Frances has friends, but doesn’t actually play.  I find myself chatting to her, trying to persuade her to have lessons.  She is eventually persuaded to give it a go, but Frances doesn’t take part in many sports.  She’s been asthmatic all her life and sometimes, just being able to breathe is enough for her.  She’s breathing quite heavily, now, as we chat, over lunch.  I comment.  She says she feels fine.  I notice it, because I used to be asthmatic too, but my asthma cleared up in my early twenties.  For one in three children, this will be the case.  Frances hasn’t been so fortunate. 
Three million people in the UK and almost three hundred thousand in Ireland suffer from asthma, which is an inflammation of the airways and can be fatal.  It is commonly treated with inhalers, both to relieve symptoms and prevent attacks and these often need to be used daily. Frances has been using medication for as long as she can remember.
 ‘ I used to have an inhaler with a plastic bulb, that you squeezed, with a glass thing on it that you put the liquid in and it aerated  the liquid.  If that got broken and you didn’t have a spare one, you would be in trouble.  I had to stay in bed, without it, I couldn’t move around.”
When I was a child, I used to think I was going to die from asthma, I tell her.  Did that happen to her?
“Yes.  A few times I thought I was going to die.  Especially at night, if I was bad.  My parents used to give me hot whiskey, just to ease it a little bit, with lemon.  That would make me sleep for a while, but then I’d wake up and I’d be very caught.  The night would be so long that I used to think I’d never get through it.  And a few times I passed out, because I was so breathless.  It’s an awful feeling when you’re that bad.”
Unfortunately, no-one has yet discovered a cure for asthma.  But it has been established that certain allergens can bring on attacks.  Frances is allergic to everything, she tells me.
“ I’m allergic to so many things, dust, hay…..  If I was locked in a stable with a horse, it would probably kill me. Mould, old papers, old clothes…..”
Before concentrating on selling jewellery, Frances sold antique clothes and furs, but had to give up working with them, because of the allergies.  I ask her if she’s allergic to animals in general.
“ I am allergic to animals,” she says, “But I have a cat and two dogs.  They don’t live in the house, I don’t think I’d be able to tolerate that.  I’m very allergic to pollen, too, in the Spring and Summer I’m actually better off in the shop, than outside.  Foods, too.  I can have a reaction to a lot of foods.  Eggs, tomatoes, bacon, flour…”
Just at that moment,  her food arrives.  Grilled vegetables, with polenta.
I notice some tomatoes on her plate.  “You can’t stay away from everything,” she says.  ‘It would drive you mad.”
Does it make her feel better, when she stays away from those things?
“It does.  I don’t eat bread, much, just the odd bit.  I’m not supposed to drink milk or beer and certain wines affect me.  Something to do with the mould on the grape.  Especially in pink champagne, they use the skins to give it the colour.”
            She offers me a glass of wine, but won’t have one herself.  I refuse.  I mention that my asthma cleared up when I moved to London, in my teens.  And wonder if being in Cork has an affect on her asthma.
“Yes, because it’s low-lying and damp.  Even when I go to Dublin, I’m okay. When I’m away, in the sun, I’m completely clear.  I go to the Canaries quite a lot and I forget to even take my medication, when I’m there.  So my long-term plan is to spend three or four months of the year there.  Not all hot climates would suit me though, for instance if it’s too humid, or dusty, it doesn’t suit me.  But when the air is nice and dry and clear, I could run a marathon.”
Can you run here?  I ask.
“No.  I used to do a lot of horse-riding, but I’m allergic to the horses.  I used to take anti-histamines, but I gave that up because the cure was worse than the disease.  They made me very sleepy.”
I ask her if she does take part in sports.  She looks guilty.
“I used to go to the gym, but I need to start when I’m totally clear, because if I was any way bad, it would only make me worse.  I do love swimming, but the chlorine makes my eyes sore.  I think there’s a sea-water  pool in Inchydoney, though, which I should try.  I used to swim in the river, but I got little bumps, from the bugs in the water.”
Did she ever smoke?
“Never.  My parents smoked, though.  I hated cigarettes because they used to make me feel so bad.” 
It has been shown, in research, that smoking during pregnancy can increase your child’s chances of developing asthma and it is also know to be hereditary. 
Frances was born with asthma.
“When  I was a baby, it was very very bad,” she says. “And it’s on both sides of my family. I spent most of my childhood in bed, sick, and I couldn’t go out playing with the other children, I was too breathless. The teacher used to keep me inside and keep me warm.”
She does find that having reflexology, twice a week helps.
“I  find all that sort of stuff very good,” she says. “It’s very relaxing, for a start, and it helps me breathe.  All the different parts of your feet relate to different parts of your body.  I have two very heavy pads on my feet, covering where my chest area is.  I haven’t had as many chest colds or bouts of flu, since I’ve been having it. I’ve avoided getting the really bad flu that could put me in hospital.” 
The medication for asthma causes side effects, Frances points out, but she is willing to put up with them.
“One of the inhalers gives me a sore throat, the preventative one.  And sometimes I get a tremor, from the other one.  The Ventolin.  But you put up with that.  I suppose everybody has something that they have to live with!”  She laughs.
Does the asthma affect her social life?
“Not really.  Unless pubs are very smoky, which would affect me.  If friends around me are smoking, especially in the morning, that is lethal, it will start me off for the day.  As I get into the day, I can tolerate it more.  Smoky bars affect my eyes, but it’s becoming more socially unacceptable, to smoke.”
Tomorrow, Frances will be going away, to get a dose of sun, which will hopefully alleviate her symptoms for a while.  In the meantime, the Asthma Society of Ireland are continually raising money for research into possible cure.
Asthma Society of Ireland, 01 878 8511
Liveline, 01 878 8122