Munster legend's cousin 'lives for rugby' but asthma presents extra challenges

The 11-year-old, who is a cousin of Keith Earls, lives for rugby 'but when he’s on the pitch he doesn’t get much play-time because of the asthma'

Aoife Kally and her son Ethan. 'You can feel all alone with the asthma sometimes, but there is help and support there if you reach out on the WhatsApp group.'

Ethan Kally, 11, lives for rugby. And no wonder when his cousin Keith Earls set a great example for him.

However, asthma means he faces extra challenges on the pitch. His mother Aoife Kally says “he doesn’t let it stop him” although sport and school can suffer, even when managing his care closely.

Ethan lives for rugby, his mother said, but "when he’s on the pitch he doesn’t get much play-time because of the asthma".

“He has to use his inhalers. His coaches were trained in it, thank god but Ethan’s seems to be that little bit more severe so he has to come off the pitch and take his inhalers. Then if he feels up to it, they give him another few minutes before the game ends.” 

Living in Limerick city, Ms Kally said she and her husband are hopeful he can keep playing. 

"His cousin is Keith Earls, so it’s in his blood,” she said.

Keith Earls in action for Munster. File picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Ethan’s coaches at Young Munster RFC are also on board with his hopes.

“We have an asthma action plan,” she said referring to a template provided by the Asthma Society of Ireland (ASI).

“The GP checked off on it and said to give that plan to his teachers and his coaches. So we have spare inhalers going to his rugby training and his matches. We have a bag of inhalers at school with the action plan at all times.” 

Ms Kally would also like to see more discussion of asthma and sport.

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“He was watching Ireland one day and one of the players had to take inhalers on the sidelines, and when Ethan saw that he was instantly boosted up,” she said.

“It gave him a bit of a confidence boost to see a professional player with inhalers on the sidelines, it made it a little bit more normal I suppose.” 

The family regularly check in with specialist nurses using a free ASI WhatsApp service, funded by the HSE. 

“You can feel all alone with the asthma sometimes, but there is help and support there if you reach out on the WhatsApp group,” she said.

The ASI advise it is better to focus on getting asthma managed rather than avoiding sport.

'High rate of uncontrolled asthma in the Irish population'

An estimated one in 10 people in Ireland have asthma, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world. During 2022, some 81 people died due to asthma in Ireland, the ASI said.

In a survey published on Tuesday, they found 74% of people said they or their child’s sleep had been disturbed by asthma in the past year.

Some 51% of 1,205 people surveyed reported they or their child had an asthma attack in the last year, and 24% had an attack in the previous month.

These figures “suggest a high rate of uncontrolled asthma in the Irish population”, according to Professor Marcus Butler, consultant respiratory physician at St Vincent's Hospital and ASI medical director.

“Frequent symptoms and more serious flare-ups of asthma, also known as asthma attacks, are a clear sign that your lungs are inflamed and you need an asthma review. Equally, waking at night with your asthma should be a prompt to seek help,” he advised.

Marking Asthma Awareness Week, which runs until Sunday, the ASI have shared information packs through HSE-integrated respiratory hubs for doctors to give patients.

ASI chief Eilis Ní Chaithnía said: "Knowledge is power when it comes to managing asthma effectively.”