The heartbreaking and sudden loss of 12-year-old Ryan Gibbons serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of proper asthma management in schools.
Ryan was a lively and adventurous boy who enjoyed riding motorbikes and exploring the woods. However, a preventable mistake cost him his life.
In 2012, Ryan suffered a fatal asthma attack at school. Although he could have used his inhaler at the onset of symptoms, the school had taken it away.
On October 9, the seventh grader went to school as usual—but he never made it back home. While playing soccer, he experienced an asthma attack but couldn’t access his inhaler because it was locked in the principal’s office.
Desperately needing his medication to breathe, Ryan was unable to get to it in time. His friends attempted to carry him to the office, but tragically, they couldn’t reach the inhaler soon enough. Ryan lost consciousness and was never revived.
The incident, which occurred at Elgin Country School in Ontario, Canada, devastated an entire nation. An investigation later revealed that despite repeated pleas from his mother and a doctor’s note, the school had enforced a policy that prevented Ryan from keeping his inhaler with him.
According to his mother, Sandra Gibbons, Ryan would often try to bring an extra inhaler to school to get around the rule, but it was routinely confiscated. School staff even called Sandra multiple times, asking her to pick up inhalers they had taken from him.
“You would give him an inhaler, but then he would get caught with it, and it would be taken away,” Sandra told CBC. “Then I’d get a phone call. It was incredibly frustrating. I didn’t understand why. I didn’t realize the policy required prescribed medication to be stored in the office.”
Despite the devastating loss, Ryan’s passing was not in vain. Determined to prevent another family from suffering the same tragedy, Sandra took action. She started a petition urging the Ontario government to implement standardized asthma management policies in schools.
Her efforts led to the passing of Ryan’s Law (Bill 135), which mandates that schools allow children to carry their inhalers if they have a doctor’s note. The legislation received full support from all parties.
Sandra expressed a mix of emotions upon the bill’s passage, saying, “I’m overwhelmed, very emotional, and very happy it’s going to be implemented.” The Asthma Society also praised the law, with its president emphasizing the need for students to have immediate access to life-saving asthma medication.
In the U.S., every state permits students to carry inhalers, yet some schools still prohibit them due to strict drug policies. Asthma remains a serious issue, with over ten Americans dying from it daily—deaths that are often preventable.
Ryan’s tragic story is a painful reminder of what can happen when life-saving medication is kept out of reach. However, thanks to his mother’s relentless fight for change, thousands of children with asthma now have better protection.
Let’s share Ryan’s story to honor his memory and raise awareness about the critical need for asthma patients to have immediate access to their inhalers.
