In the words of asthma sufferers, asthma feels:

“Like you’re in a pool of water. You can’t breathe. And when you try to breathe it don’t work.”

“Like you put a pillow over your face and pushed it. It’s horrible! You feel desperate because you can’t breathe.”

“Like you wish you could still be playing outside, where the air could be cleaner.”

There are more than 20 million asthma sufferers in the United States. These men, women and children know all too well what it feels like to have an attack. But many others have no idea. I encourage you to watch a short film we produced that explores asthma through the words of those who experience it every day.

Here’s what you can do:

This month is Asthma Awareness Month. Spread the word by on Facebook and Twitter (#right2breathe) by sharing this video with your friends.

Support the right of all people to breathe clean air. We can make the lives of asthma sufferers better by working to reduce air pollution.

Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up our nation’s dirty polluters, including power plants and cement kilns. Unregulated pollution from these industries worsens the health of many asthma sufferers and contributes to premature death. We can do much, much better.