She was really lovely, really kind.
So she was already at such a young age she had what I call quite a lot of empathy and She would be concerned about Other people and what I mean by that is I can remember her saying about her asthma Not
that she wanted to have happened to her but she was quite relieved It wasn't happening to anybody else and I think that's quite a thing to say such a young age Welcome to LSE IQ I'm Sue Windy Bank and this is the podcast where we ask social scientists and other experts to answer one intelligent question You've just heard the words of Rossamund Odukissi Deborah Co-founder of the Ella Roberta Family Foundation,
which she set up after the death of her daughter in 2013 a Previously active little girl Ella died at just age nine from a rare and severe form of asthma The foundation named after her aims to improve the lives of children affected by asthma in Southeast London By campaigning for better treatment of the condition and for clean air Her mum still lives along the road that I'm standing on The busy South Circular a pollution hotspot which forms part of a major ring road around London.
I Live along this road too and like Ella.
I have asthma Although mine is under control Sometimes I find myself gasping for air and I wonder about the impact the road outside my house is having on my health There is growing awareness and mounting evidence of the impact that air pollution is having on all of us Including perhaps making us more susceptible to COVID-19 In this episode of LSE IQ I ask how can we tackle air pollution?
I Asked Rosamund when Ella started to become unwell She told me
that the first signs appeared on a trip to the monument a historic London landmark with 311 steps to its top It may have been a bit longer,
but when it first manifested itself to us was during the Half-term in October.
I think where we went for the half term the monument and I think we can admit
that even feet and able people might struggle to Climb that and as she began to climb it.
She sort of said she was struggling But
because she had a cold you can imagine what I first thought I thought that's why she was saying what she was saying Not really that really was the beginning of the end really
because she never She had moments in 2012 of being well during the Olympics and you kind of got this really great feeling
because she was She was feeling well and we suddenly thought oh my god.
Is this it and then unfortunately September of 2012 she became Ill again,
so she never really a hundred and one percent ever recovered.
No She used to have these When I say dramatic seizures,
what I mean by that is
if she had had one on the street and nobody was there They might have assumed she had epilepsy and This would always Start off with a cough.