Win Against Asthma! Search for Winners Against Asthma 2015
By Mommy Donna and Kib - February 17, 2015
First and foremost, let me clarify this: I AM NOT ASTHMATIC, neither my son nor
any of my family members. But I do
understand that it is difficult to have asthma.
I have friends who have asthma and passed on the illness
to their offsprings.
A close friend of mine who recently had a vacation in
Singapore brought all of her son’s ‘asthma prevention gadgets’ with them, which
occupied almost half of their luggage.
His son is always confined in the hospital too for asthma attacks. But despite of her son’s illness, she does
not put so much restriction to her child that she lets him experience the best
things in life. She lets her son do sports activities and eat plenty of food, but there is one thing that she cannot provide: a pet
dog. Just to fulfill her son’s wish, she
bought him a battery-operated toy dog, haha.
Anyway, I thank God for not giving us this illness. Seeing a person having his/her
asthma attack is really devastating and worrisome. Sad
to say, there are people who die due to a severe asthma attack. Reports show that there are 235 million
worldwide who have asthma with 250,000 annual deaths recorded. Furthermore it is predicted that another 100
million people will suffer from the disease by 2025.
In the Philippines alone, there are over 10 million cases of
people with asthma. Asthma remains the
most common chronic disease of childhood morbidity as measured by school
absences, emergency visits, and hospitalizations.
Some of the presentation slides shown during the event
However, despite of the illness, there are people who chose
to battle asthma. They became successful
in their chosen careers despite of having asthma. Yes, they still do have asthma attacks, but
since they educated themselves with the illness, they know the things that they
need to do to control the illness. Take
the case of Arnel Pineda, Kim Chiu, and Michael Christian Martinez. These three have asthma and yet they
accomplished so much in their respective careers.
Can you win against asthma?
This February 5, 2015, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) launched the
Search for Winners Against Asthma 2015.
The campaign aims to choose and recognize ten (10) young asthmatic
achievers from different walks of life.
This is a nationwide search open to 10-30 year olds who are outstanding
in their respective fields despite having asthma and inspire other asthma
sufferers that they, too, can win against asthma.
Other qualifications are as follows:
·
Asthma patient diagnosed by a qualified
physician
·
Filipino citizen or individual permanently
residing in the Philippines
·
An achiever in his/her chosen field (sports,
arts, academics, work, etc.)
There will be two age groups: 10-19 years old and 20-30
years old. Ten (10) finalists will be
chosen for each category, but will only choose five (5) winners for each
category.
This search will run from February until May 2015. Deadline for submission of entries is on
March 31, 2015. GSK will be touring to
different schools and drugstore outlets to spread the advocacy and invite more
people to join the campaign.
All entries will be screened during the first week of April
2015. The top twenty (20) finalists will
be announced on World Asthma Day on May 5th. There will be online voting for the top
twenty finalists and the top ten will be announced and awarded by the third
week of May 2015.
The criteria for judging is as follows:
CRITERIA
RATING
Excellence in their Field or Category
50%
Evidence of winning over asthma
30%
Online Votes
20%
Each of the ten (10) winners will receive the following
prizes:
- Five Thousand (PhP5,000) worth of GCs from Folded
& Hung
- Huawei P7 Smart Phone
- Twenty Five Thousand (PhP25,000) worth of Sodexo GCs
During the launch of the search, my son tried some Huawei
smart phones displayed at the function room lobby. My son enjoyed using the smart phone that he
does not want to leave anymore, haha.
Kib on Huawei's booth
I didn’t know that Huawei has been in the Philippines since
1997; wow, almost 20 years in the Philippine industry!
Going back to the event, it was really inspiring to hear the
success stories of Arnel Pineda, Kim Chiu, and Michael Christian Martinez. Arnel Pineda just gave a video message, Kim
Chiu was the event launch herself, and Michael Christian Martinez was on phone
patch from USA.
Arnel Pineda giving a video message to the press
Kim Chiu telling her story about her battle with asthma
Michael Christian Martinez on a phone patch being interviewed by Sam Purvor, the host of the event
Indeed, when you dream big, no matter how difficult it is,
you’ll succeed. These three asthmatic
achievers never let their illness as a hindrance to to their success. The Search for Winners Against Asthma may
inspire other asthmatics too their illness should not be a deterrent from
living one’s life to the fullest.
Kim Chiu posing with GSK executives and physicians
You may visit: http://facebook.com/winagainstasthma and click on “Search For Winners” tab for the contest mechanics and other details.
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