"I have fairly mild asthma - the boys have it the worst,'' Mrs Fitzgerald said.

Ten-year-old Sion said asthma dominates most of his waking moments.

"During an attack, I can hear the air wheezing through my lungs,'' he said.

"Sometimes I can even feel my lungs squeezing.''

Nine-year-old Nicholas once had to use a nebuliser to stop asthma attacks.

"I have a preventer which is pretty strong, and it hurts if it's not in a spacer [special glass tube],'' he said.

"Sometimes they have to interrupt me, when I'm playing a game, because I have to use it.''

Mother and sons are hopeful about an inhaler, Alvesco, which was recently approved for children.

A National Asthma Council spokesman, Dominic Fitzgerald, (who is unrelated to the Fitzgerald family) said Alvesco had two advantages.

"It's used just once daily,'' Dr Fitzgerald said.

He said this was because Alvesco only worked once it settled on the lungs.

He said most inhalers were steroid-based and their over-use could affect children's growth.

"Alvesco is a steroid, but it gets metabolised more quickly and is cleared by the liver,'' Dr Fitzgerald said.

Sion said he would like to only take medication once a day.

"Right now I have to use it in the morning and at night,'' he said.

"It's boring.''

Mrs Fitzgerald said her boys also had to make sure they take their preventers with them.

"Sometimes they have to use them several times a day,'' she said.

"If we go out somewhere, and they haven't got them, we can be in a panic to get home.''