Brenneman

Lindsay Brenneman forgot she entered a competition until she learned that she won it.

Lindsay, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Dover Intermediate School, was one of two national youth winners of the Ultimate Inhaler Contest held by the Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics, based in McLean, Va.

For the contest, youth submitted drawings showing how they would design inhalers. Designs included butterfly and necklace inhalers, according to Laurie Ross, the network's spokeswoman.

"This is the first time we've ever done this (contest)," she said. "We did this to encourage people to think about changes they might want to see made to their inhalers, and we wanted to encourage creativity."

Lindsay, who has

Lindsay Brenneman's bunny design for an asthma inhaler.
sports-induced asthma, entered the contest in June 2011 while attending Camp Green Zone held by WellSpan Health at York College.

She said she forgot about the contest until her parents, Jill and Tracy Brenneman, received an email in February informing them that Lindsay won for the contest's 12 to 18 category.

Her winning drawing was a rabbit-shaped inhaler.

"You take the cap off (the bunny's) belly and stick the medicine inside where the cap goes," Lindsay said. "Then you put your mouth on the (bunny's) mouthpiece that's shaped like a carrot. The carrot is in the bunny's mouth. And then you push the bunny's tail and suck in

the medicine."

Lindsay said she chose a bunny design to show kids that they don't have to be afraid of asthma and "the bunny is always by your side just like the inhaler."

Honored: Lindsay and a national winner from the 5 to 11 age category, as well as two honorable mention winners, had their designs featured in the spring edition of Allergy & Asthma Today publication.

They all attended an awards banquet May 10 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where they presented their designs to attendees, including members from U.S. Congress and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry.

The winners also met Charles Theil, co-inventor of the first metered-dose inhaler in 1956.

"It was really cool because I got to shake his hand," Lindsay said.

The winners also got to meet their U.S. congressmen. Lindsay and her parents met Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County.

"It was very exciting to be there because of Lindsay," said Jill Brenneman, 42. "It made us very proud. We were grinning from ear to ear."

-- Reach Eyana Adah McMillan at 505-5438 or emcmillan@yorkdispatch.com.