AND THE SUPERHERO COSTUME IS JUST GRAVY!
Guest Blog: Thanks to Andre Zollars, an adventurous outdoorzy gal in Central Montana, for sending us this great story about how the ColdAvenger became a solid solution for allowing her kiddo to head outdoors despite his asthma.–Hilary
Elias won't let asthma keep him indoors
Andre Zollars: I’m a mother of two young children, ages 5 and 6. Getting outside to do all the things we enjoy in Central Montana; skiing, ice-skating, sledding, x-country skiing, ice-fishing can be a challenge. Known for its frigid temps and unforgiving wind, it’s not unusual for temps to plummet to 20-degrees below zero and add wind chill to that. That can be very limiting in terms of the amount of time we’re able to get out and stay outside. This has become even more of a challenge, as my 5-yr-old recently developed asthma.
Cold season has already been tough here and I’ve had him out of school several times for asthma already this year. Most recently, his attack came right when an Arctic cold front hit and temperatures plummeted into the single digits. The doctor suspected that the dry, cold air might have triggered the attack. So, naturally, although he’d been indoors for several days I was nervous to let him go outside for any length of time.
Finally, he was begging me to go out and play, when I looked over and saw my Cold Avenger Classic mask hanging by my coat. I looked at him, smiled, and told him he could go out as long as he wore this mask.
“Wow, I get to wear that?” he said, grabbing for it, “That’s cool. I look like a superhero.”
That worked for me, so I pulled it on him and after getting everything else on, sent him out to play. Since I’d run in the mask I knew that he would be perfectly fine with that on. The air inside the mask would be much warmer than the outside air and, therefore, not stressing his delicate airways and lungs.
I set up watch in the living room, curious to see if he’d keep it on. I thought it might bug him and he’d pull on it or eventually want it off. Soon, he was asking me to strap on his x-country skis so he could practice in the back yard. I never mentioned the mask and he kept wearing it. Finally, after nearly an hour, I called him in and taking off his skis, asked him how the mask felt.
“Great,” he said, “Can I wear it to school?”
Which is exactly what I wanted to hear, because unless it’s below zero his school sends them out for recess. If I can be confident he’s wearing his Cold Avenger mask then I won’t have to worry. At that point, the inevitable happened when his sister came down and immediately asked, “Can I have one?”
Thanks Cold Avenger for the peace of mind, and support our active outdoors lifestyle by helping us get out and stay out longer in the cold.
Andre Zollars, Lewistown, MT
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