FOR years Charmaine Wallen watched helplessly as her son, William, struggled to catch his breath.

The little boy, now seven, suffered numerous severe asthma attacks and was prescribed steroids eight times in three years in a bid to curb his condition.

But, thanks to a visit to the Asthma and Allergy Clinic in Southampton, William's asthma is now under full control and he has managed without steroids for two years.

Charmaine and her family which includes William's two-year-old brother Harry another asthma sufferer, from Rayley Road, Locks Heath, are backing the Daily Echo's campaign to save the free facility which is threatened with closure because of a £30,000 financial shortfall.

The clinics, run by the world-renowned Asthma, Allergy and Inflammation Research (Aair) charity based at Southampton General Hospital, help up to 30 people a week and offer a valuable lifeline to the 28,000 asthmatics in the city. Thousands of asthma and allergy sufferers from as far afield as South Wales, the Midlands and Surrey have benefited from the support and advice given by specialist nurse and fellow asthmatic Chellan Eames, who set up the clinics two years ago and now runs them single-handedly.

Increasing research costs mean the Aair charity can no longer afford to fund the facility, which currently operates at the Shirley NHS Walk-In Centre, West End Surgery, Romsey Hospital and Hythe Hospital four days a week.

Charmaine, 26, said it would be a terrible loss if the clinics were forced to close. She said: "We just couldn't control William's asthma at all, but Chellan gave me the time that my GP couldn't."

The facility was originally set up as an off-shoot of the Aair charity to convey the results of research being done at the General Hospital to the general public.

Assistant fundraiser Nicky Williams said: "The price of all the equipment and the staffing to run the research side is going up and up all the time and there's not enough to go round."

The first clinic facing closure is the Monday morning session at Romsey Hospital.

Has your life been turned around by Chellan Eames and the Asthma and Allergy team? Are you organising a fundraising event for the clinics? Call reporter Emma Barnett on 023 8042 4505.