Breathing freer in the mountains

This summer at camp, Malik Ford wrote his fears about having asthma on a piece of paper, built an airplane out of it and then let it fly.

“It was helpful,” said Malik, 11. “We said our fears -- like ‘What are your fears when you have your asthma attack and you don’t have your inhaler?’ -- and then we threw it so we wouldn’t have any more fears of having an asthma attack.”

Malik, who has grown up with severe asthma, is used to hospital visits for his attacks.

“Since he was born, the severity has increased over the years,” said his mom, Tammy Ford, a schoolteacher who also has asthma. Malik lives in Long Beach with his mother and stepfather, an older sister and a younger brother who also has asthma.

After enrolling Malik in the American Lung Assn.’s “Open Airways” program, which teaches youngsters about the disease, Tammy Ford found out about SCAMP Camp (Southern California Asthma Medical Program).

About 200 children with moderate to severe asthma, ages 8 to 14, attend the program in the mountains of Julian in San Diego County for a week in June.

“A lot of parents are really reluctant to send their kids away,” said Katie Van Cleave, coordinator of childhood asthma programs at the American Lung Assn.

But at SCAMP Camp, with a volunteer medical staff of nurses, respiratory therapists and physicians on site 24 hours a day, parents don’t have to worry.

Combining education with traditional camp activities, including swimming, hiking and rock climbing, children learn how to better manage their illness.

“They learn about anatomy of the lungs; they learn about medications, how to deal with the emotional effects of asthma,” Van Cleave said.

The most common emotion associated with the disease is frustration.

Malik said he learned a lot at camp, particularly what the “controls” and “triggers” of asthma are and how to better check his “peak flow” meter, a device that measures how quickly air goes out of his lungs.

But besides the education, he also got to just be a kid.

“We went to the lake and caught frogs and tadpoles, and we learned a lot of songs like ‘Boom-chicka-boom.’ ”

When Malik returned from camp, his mom said she could see how much he had grown. “I was actually very proud of him because it was his first time away from home,” Tammy Ford said. “It gave him a sense of independence.”

Thanks to the $1.7 million raised last year by the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign, about 8,000 children will go to camp in Southern California this summer.

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nicole.loomis@latimes.com