TORONTO - The mother of a 12-year-old boy who died at an Elgin County school during an asthma attack is urging the government to let kids carry their puffers with them.
Sandra Gibbons' son Ryan died Oct. 9, 2012 when he suffered an asthma attack before anyone could get to his puffer, which was locked up in the office of his school in the village of Straffordville.
The school would not allow Ryan to carry an inhaler, and Gibbons says she wants the law changed so all kids with asthma can have their puffers nearby for an emergency.
She wants the government to adopt Progressive Conservative Jeff Yurek's private member's bill -- called Ryan's law -- so no other parents have to go through what she does, missing her son every day.
Yurek says his bill would allow students with asthma to have a puffer in their pocket or backpack as long as they have a doctor's permission, and force every school board to develop a comprehensive asthma policy.
The Ontario Lung Association, which is backing Yurek's bill, says there are 1.9 million people in the province with asthma, including 500-thousand children.
