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American Morning

Jackie Joyner-Kersee on Asthma

Aired August 13, 2001 - 10:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A report by the Mayo Foundation estimates that 3 million emergency room visits every year are asthma related. Five-hundred thousand asthma sufferers are admitted to hospitals annually and asthma is responsible for 6,000 deaths each year.

Joining us now to take a closer look at how athletes are dealing with asthma is one of the greatest athletes in the world, track-and- field star Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She's not only the winner of six Olympic gold medals, but she has also been battling asthma for more than 15 years. Jackie joining us from close to her home town, St. Louis, Missouri.

Jackie, great to see you again.

JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Good.

KAGAN: And you're looking in great health right now.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Thank you, trying to stay there.

KAGAN: But you know the panic that Rashidi Wheeler must have been feeling when he had that asthma attack, because that very thing has happened to you.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Yes, it's unfortunate that he lost his life and I'm very sympathetic to his family. And asthma is something that you really have to educate yourself on and be on top of managing your asthma condition and keeping it under control. Because if you can keep it under control then hopefully, you won't lose your life.

KAGAN: Two issues here: One, the growing number of asthmatics across the country, does that concern you?

JOYNER-KERSEE: Yes, it does concern me, because we're not quite sure where it's coming from. But I think more importantly, more and more people are being diagnosed and people are taking it very seriously. You look in the inner city, a lot of times people confuse kids a lot of kids playing too hard or they might not be in condition with exercised-induced asthma or asthma totally, so it's very important that people start to recognize the symptoms, educate themselves and find out why this is happening.

KAGAN: But it doesn't mean that you have to be inactive. I think a lot of people would be surprised to find out that one of the greatest athletes of the time, and yourself, is someone who has also battled and controlled asthma.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Yes, I think that the most important thing is that you have to understand that you don't have to be inactive. For me, the difficult part is that I lived in denial. And because I lived in denial, I didn't listen to my doctors, I didn't do the things they were asking me to do. I wouldn't take my medicine on a regular basis because I thought I was this great athlete, there was no way I could have asthma.

KAGAN: Did you not realize how serious it was, though, Jackie?

JOYNER-KERSEE: No, and, you know, that's the frightening thing. Because even though I was being hospitalized, going to the emergency room, but once they would put the medicine in me I would think that I was cured. And I realized and the reason that I was feeling good is because it was being controlled at that time. So I had to come to grips with it and realize that I cannot live in denial. I have to respect asthma like I respect my opponents.

KAGAN: And then there's the other fear, I mean, the fear of losing your life. But as you write it today in an editorial in "The New York Times," you were scared of losing your track scholarship at UCLA.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Yes, because I didn't know what was going on. I was diagnosed with bronchitis at first and it was my husband, who was my coach at the time, that sent me to an allergist. And he found out what was happening, that there were certain foods that I was allergic to that would trigger my asthma. And then I realized that this is something serious that could take something that I love, something I dream about, away from me. So I had to come to grips with it and start to try it get my asthma under control.

KAGAN: I guess you'd like to also see coaches be aware when they're dealing with kids, as well.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Yes, I think coaches, trainers, family, friends -- all of those people are very important. They can be a lifeline for someone. It's very important that a non-asthmatic educate themselves on what asthma is all about. And for coaches who are dealing with athletes, because sometime they try to say that we're weak -- it's not that we're weak. It's a condition that we're dealing with. It's a disease. Some of are breathing only 40 percent of our capability, whereas someone else could be breathing 80 percent or 100 percent. We're trying to get up to that part, so it's very important that people take the education very important. Because it's very important.

KAGAN: And for your many fans out there, as we mentioned, you're looking great. Tell us what else you've been doing since you retired from world competition.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Continue to work with my foundation. Doing a lot of work with asthma, bringing awareness to it. I have my own program, Friends of Asthmatics. I'm also part of an asthma all-star program with Jerome Bettis and Amy Van Dyken. So we travel the country, try to bring awareness to it because it's a disease that can kill.

But we shouldn't have that, even though 5,000 people lose their life on a yearly basis, that hopefully we can have people to control, educate themselves and keep their asthma under control.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Thanks for brining an awareness to a very serious medical topic.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, always great to see you.

JOYNER-KERSEE: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thanks for being with us.

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