York girl, Martha, inspires business The Inhaler Tailor

Martha Bartle spent a week in an induced coma in ICU last year as doctors struggled to get her asthma under control.

The six-year-old from Clifton had refused to use her asthma inhaler and would not take it with her to school.

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Martha and Jo Bartle (Image: Supplied)

But when close family friend Will Hogge designed her a unicorn themed case to cover her brown inhaler she immediately became proud of it nicknaming it her 'unicorn spray'.

The first case made for Martha led to Will setting up his own business, The Inhaler Tailor, which, as The Press reported at the time, appeared on BBC’s Dragons Den back in February.

And Martha’s parents, Jo and Nic, credit the case with making a huge difference to their daughter’s health.

Martha Bartle with her unicorn inhaler (Image: Supplied)

Speaking about the incident when Martha had to be put into an induced coma, Jo said: "It was like living in a nightmare. It didn't feel real. Nic was sitting with her in the hospital and said it was like a scene from the TV show Casualty.

"When you have a child with a cough who goes from being unwell to a life-threatening situation in just six hours, and they haven't been diagnosed with asthma, it's scary."

Martha in her hospital bed with mum, Jo (Image: Supplied)

Jo and Will's families know one another threw Martha and Will's daughter, six-year-old Ellaria, being friends. The girls now go to Clifton with Rawcliffe School.

Will said: "Only about 15 per cent of children use their inhaler when they should, mainly because they are ugly and they just really don't want to use it.

"When I made Martha the unicorn case it really changed things, I think in her head it changed what it was."

Martha's unicorn spray (Image: Supplied)

Will is now selling a range of cases retailing at £12 at The Inhaler Tailor and runs the company from his York home with wife, Harriet.

May is World Asthma Month and Tuesday, May 7 has been designated World Asthma Day.

The UK has one of the poorest inhaler compliance rates in the developed world, particularly amongst children and teens.

The NHS is planning a study into how the unicorn themed case and others, 40-year-old Will has designed could help other asthma patients overcome the stigma of using an inhaler.

The inhaler cases are handmade every week, using environmentally-friendly vegan leather supplied from Venice, Italy.

Will who attended Bootham School, has previous roles including developing new brands for Proctor & Gamble in Switzerland and co-founding SQUIG square-shaped sausages, which are sold in Asda and Morrisons. He has also worked in an elephant sanctuary.
Last night saw

More than 10 million people in the UK carry medical inhalers, but 86 per cent of them say there’s still some level of stigma attached, and one in two school age children say they avoid using their inhalers at school because of peer pressure.

Will with his own daughters, Ellaria, six, and Emeline, four (Image: supplied)