Halle Arnold was diagnosed with asthma when she was 18 months old. At age 11, she is able to keep her symptoms under control, but the chronic disease has changed the way she lives. That’s why the Arnold family has been staunch supporters of the American Lung Association’s Asthma Walk – now the Healthy Air Walk – raising more than $15,000 since first joining the walk in 2004. This year they will walk in the Healthy Air Walk because air pollution is a serious contributor to asthma.
As a social worker and health educator, Halle’s mother knew all about the asthma epidemic before battling the disease at home. “It takes on a different flavor when it’s your kid in the emergency room fighting for her life,” says Catherine Arnold.
Spurred on by a passion for the cause and a desire to help the American Lung Association fight lung disease, the Arnold family grew their Wind Walkers team to more than 40 members. They did it by enlisting the support of everyone they know in the Santa Rosa area where they live, from Catherine and her husband’s workplaces to Halle and her brother’s school to the competitive synchronized swim team Halle competes on.
“It really started out just the four of us – my husband and me and our two kids,” Catherine says. “But what we found when we started asking people for support was that so many people are affected by asthma and other lung diseases. People really want to support this cause.”
The Arnold Family, including Doug, Catherine, Braden, and Halle, has been walking to raise funds for lung disease programs since 2004.
