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What Helped Me Go From Gasping for Air After Climbing the Stairs to Running a Half Marathon in Just One Year with Stage 2 COPD

After years of relying on inhalers and pills, I finally found a way to treat the real cause of my breathlessness — and it changed everything.

Published: Monday, September 29, 2025

By: John Harris61, Orlando, FL, Retired Teacher

My name is John. 

 

I am 63 years old, a retired mechanic , and I live with stage 2 COPD. 

 

For years, I struggled with what doctors call “air hunger”. 

 

It is that awful feeling when you can’t get enough air no matter how deeply you try to breathe. 

 

Walking up the stairs, cooking a meal or playing with my grandkids left me exhausted and gasping.

 

I thought my best years were already behind me. 

 

But I was wrong.

 

This article is for anyone living with COPD or constant shortness of breath who feels trapped inside their own body. 

 

I want to share my story of how I found something that finally helped me breathe easier, sleep better, and start living again.

 

Maybe you do not want to run a marathon, and that is perfectly fine. 

 

If your goal is simply to live happier and enjoy the everyday moments without gasping for air, you are in the right place 

 

 

Life before

A year ago, my life was shrinking smaller and smaller every day.

 

I could not climb 17 stairs in my own home without feeling exhausted by the time I reached the top.

 

Sometimes I stood there silently, breathing heavily, before I could continue on with what I was doing.

 

One time my 6 year old granddaughter ran up ahead of me laughing, and by the time I reached the top, I had to sit down because I was too out of breath to follow her into her room.

 

That moment broke my heart.

 

Everyday life became a battlefield. 

 

Washing a car left me panting. 

 

Bringing in groceries felt like running a mile. 

 

I started avoiding housework because I knew the exhaustion that would follow. 

 

Even getting dressed some mornings felt like a marathon.

 

The cough never seemed to stop. 

 

Mornings were the worst — I would sit at the edge of my bed trying to clear my chest, fighting against the mucus that made every breath heavy. 

 

The wheezing, the tightness, the fear of not getting enough air… it was with me every single day.

 

I stopped going out with friends because I couldn’t keep up. 

 

I avoided family gatherings because I was embarrassed by my coughing fits. 

 

I wanted to play with my grandkids, but instead I would sit in a chair watching them play without me. 

 

Inside, I felt like I was slowly disappearing.

 

When the doctor said stage 2 COPD, I wasn’t shocked — I had felt something was wrong for years. 

 

But hearing it out loud was crushing. 

 

It felt like a life sentence.

 

 

What didn’t work

Like everyone else, I was given inhalers. 

 

I carried them everywhere. 

 

Sometimes they gave me an hour or two of relief, but then the wheezing and breathlessness returned. 

 

I tried switching brands, changing doses, combining medications. 

 

Nothing gave lasting relief.

 

There were pills too — more prescriptions, more side effects. 

 

Some made me shaky. 

 

Others upset my stomach. 

 

But my breathing didn’t improve much.

 

The fear of oxygen tanks never left my mind.

 

I saw other people in the clinic rolling their tanks behind them and thought, “That will be me soon.” 

 

I knew once I crossed that line, I might never go back.

 

And of course, the costs kept piling up.

 

Inhalers, pills, visits, tests. 

 

Hundreds of dollars every month, thousands every year, just to buy a little more time. 

 

It felt like I was handing my savings away for air.

 

But deep down I realized something. 

 

None of this was fixing the real problem. 

 

It was like patching a hole in a sinking boat.

 

And the pharmaceutical companies knew it.

 

They make billions keeping people like me dependent. 

 

If patients actually got better, their business would collapse.

 

That realization filled me with anger. 

 

Not only was I sick, but I was also being used.

 

 

The turning point

I was desperate to improve, so I tried everything my doctors recommended. 

 

I even went to pulmonary rehabilitation classes. 

 

Twice a week, I sat in a room with others just like me, practicing breathing exercises, light stretching, and some basic endurance training.

 

It cost me seventy dollars an hour. 

 

I kept going for several weeks, hoping it would get easier. 

 

But the truth is, it didn’t. 

 

My breathing barely improved. 

 

I was still gasping after simple activities. 

 

It felt like I was wasting my time and money.

 

Later, I learned why it didn’t work. 

 

The exercises they gave us weren’t building strength in the muscle that matters most — the diaphragm. 

 

It was like trying to build arm muscles by waving them around. 

 

You’ll get movement, but you won’t get stronger.

 

One evening, I was sitting on the couch watching YouTube videos when I stumbled on something that changed my life. 

 

It was a documentary about professional cyclists.

 

These athletes are known to have some of the strongest lungs and best stamina of anyone in the world. 

 

They ride for hours in the mountains, covering hundreds of miles in a single day.

 

And what amazed me most was that even after all that, they cross the finish line and don’t even look tired or out of breath.

 

What caught my attention was what they were doing during training. 

 

Almost every one of them was using resistance breathing devices. 

 

They weren’t just pedaling their bikes.

 

They were training their lungs the same way they trained their legs, by adding resistance.

 

That was the lightbulb moment for me.

 

If world-class athletes with already powerful lungs were using resistance breathing to push themselves even further, then why couldn’t someone like me use the same principle to rebuild my own strength?

 

It suddenly made perfect sense. 

 

My diaphragm needed resistance in order to grow stronger, just like a cyclist’s legs need heavy climbs to become powerful.

 

That was the day I realized why all the rehab classes hadn’t worked. 

 

I wasn’t training the right way. 

 

And that was the day I decided to try resistance breathing for myself.

 

 

Device that changed my life

After seeing those cyclists train with resistance breathing, I decided to try it for myself. 

 

I went online that very evening and ordered the device, called AirVera.

 

It’s specially designed to help strengthen the lungs and diaphragm in people with COPD.

 

A few days later it arrived at my doorstep.

 

The device itself is small, easy to hold in one hand, with a mouthpiece you breathe through. 

 

Inside, it has a mechanism that creates resistance — meaning when you inhale, the air doesn’t just rush in freely. 

 

Instead, your breathing muscles, especially the diaphragm, have to work harder to pull the air through.

 

That’s the whole secret. 

 

Just like your biceps get stronger by lifting weights, your breathing muscles get stronger by working against resistance. 

 

When the diaphragm grows stronger, it takes over more of the work of breathing, making each breath smoother and easier.

 

The reason this matters so much is because with COPD, so many of us overuse our neck and chest muscles to drag air in. 

 

That leaves us tight, exhausted, and panicky.

 

By strengthening the diaphragm, the body starts to breathe the way it was meant to, without all the extra struggle.

 

Using it couldn’t be simpler. 

 

I sit on my couch in the evening while the TV is on. 

 

I place the mouthpiece in my mouth, seal my lips, and breathe in deeply and slowly through the device.

 

It feels harder than a normal breath, but that’s exactly the point. 

 

Then I breathe out through my nose.

 

I repeat this cycle for about ten minutes.

 

I start with the resistance set very low so it feels challenging but not overwhelming.

 

Then, every week or so, I turn it up just a little, the same way you might add a few more pounds to weights at the gym.

 

That’s it. 

 

No special equipment, no big routine. 

 

But here is the most important part: you have to do it correctly. 

 

If you are not targeting the diaphragm, nothing will change. 

 

Training this muscle is a science. 

 

You must hit the right muscles in the right way, otherwise you are just wasting your breath. 

 

That’s why you also get step-by-step video tutorials from respiratory therapists who guide you through the process, making sure your form is correct.

 

With the right guidance, every single breath you take through the device becomes a step toward stronger lungs.

 

Just ten minutes of focused breathing a day — and every single breath is training the diaphragm to grow stronger.

 

 

When I actually saw changes

I didn’t expect miracles overnight. 

 

But what surprised me was how quickly I began to notice changes in my daily life.

 

After just two weeks...

 

my breathing wasn’t completely better yet, but it was easier enough that I could finally sleep through the night. 

 

For years, I would wake up restless, tossing and turning, sometimes coughing, sometimes just gasping for air. 

 

But suddenly I was sleeping deeper. 

 

I would wake up in the morning feeling refreshed instead of already tired.

 

That little improvement also gave me more energy. 

 

I didn’t need to lie down on the couch in the middle of the day. 

 

I had the strength to mow the lawn without stopping every few minutes.

 

I could spend an hour in the garage working on cars without reaching for my inhaler.

 

My head felt clearer too — the fog that made me forget things or lose my train of thought was beginning to lift. 

 

Even the headaches I used to get from the constant strain of shallow breathing were easing away.

By the end of the first month...

 

the difference was noticeable to my family. 

 

My granddaughter asked me to play hide and seek, and instead of saying “Maybe later,” I got up and actually played. 

 

I still got winded, but I could stay in the game.

 

I also noticed my blood pressure, which had been creeping higher, was starting to come down.

 

My doctor explained why was that.

 

He said, when your breathing muscles are weak, your body struggles to pull in oxygen and your vessels stiffen.

 

That forces your heart to pump harder and faster, trying to push the same amount of blood through stiff, narrowed vessels. 

 

Over time, this raises blood pressure.

 

But once my diaphragm started doing its job better, more fresh oxygen was getting into my blood with every breath. 

 

That oxygen helped relax and expand my blood vessels, so the blood could flow more easily. 

 

And because the vessels were wider, my heart did not need to push as hard.

 

It is almost like a garden hose. 

 

If you blow air into one end, it expands.

 

That is exactly what was happening inside of me.

By two months...

 

I was doing things I hadn’t done in years. 

 

I took my grandkids to the park and I didn’t need to sit on the bench the whole time. 

 

I could actually join them playing. 

 

My dog was the happiest of all. 

 

Before, I could only walk him to the corner of the street.

 

After month and a half I started walking him up the hill nearby.

 

This was something I never thought I’d manage again.

By six months...

 

the transformation was undeniable. 

 

I joined a local walking group. 

 

At first, I stayed toward the back, but each week I noticed I was keeping up better. 

 

Hills that once terrified me became manageable. 

 

For the first time in years, I could walk and talk with others for hours without stopping.

 

By one year...
 

came the milestone I’ll never forget. 

 

I stood at the starting line of a half marathon.

 

I wasn’t there to win, just to finish. 

 

And step by step, mile after mile, I crossed that finish line. 

 

I wasn’t gasping, I wasn’t panicking, I was smiling through tears.

 

Me, a 63-year-old grandpa who once had to pause at the top of the stairs just to catch his breath, had run 13 miles.

CLICK HERE TO GET AIRVERA

Looking back, I can hardly believe the difference one simple change made in my life. 

 

From gasping at the top of the stairs to finishing a half marathon.

 

I don’t share this story to brag. 

 

I share it because I know there are so many people out there just like I was — tired, scared, and thinking it's only getting worse.

 

I want you to know it doesn’t have to stay that way.

 

With this little device and just ten minutes a day, your life can look completely different in a few months. 

 

Imagine sleeping through the night and waking up refreshed. 

 

Imagine walking your dog without stopping, or playing with your grandkids without running out of breath. 

 

Imagine climbing the stairs and not dreading it anymore.

 

And here is the best part: you don’t have to risk anything to try. 

 

When I ordered mine, it came with a 90-day money-back guarantee. 

 

That means you have three full months to test it for yourself. 

 

If you don’t feel the difference you simply send it back and get every penny returned.

 

You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

 

I never thought I would get my life back at 63 with stage 2 COPD. 

 

But I did. 

 

And if it worked for me, there is no reason it can’t work for you too.

 

Just click the link below and get yours.

 

The sooner you begin, the sooner you’ll feel the freedom again.

CLICK HERE TO GET AIRVERA