By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER

It’s a heated matchup between the Moore County Raiderettes and the Loretto Lady Mustangs at MTSU Summer Basketball Camp, and Bella Tucker can feel it coming on. As she runs down court to set up a play, her throat starts to close. It’s hard to take a breath. Soon, the lack of oxygen makes her legs heavy. It feels like she is running in cement boots. Stubbornly, she attempts to push through – the Lady Mustangs are big rivals and she wants the win – but soon she looks over at the bench indicating she needs to come out. Defeated, she sits with her teammates, head down in frustration. This is what it’s like to suffer from Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction or EILO – a condition that affects 1 in 20 student athletes.

Bella is the 17-year-old daughter of Jason and Lindy Tucker of Lynchburg. In August, she’ll begin her senior year at Moore County High School, where she plays post on the MCHS Raiderettes basketball team in addition to extracurriculars like MCHS Student Council and HOSA. She says playing basketball is one her favorite things – a sport that EILO nearly forced her to give up.

A Misdiagnosis That Nearly Ended Her Game

Bella says she first noticed the issue in the fifth grade during a Lynchburg Junior Pro game at Lynchburg Elementary School.

“I just kept getting really short of breath, even though I knew I was in good shape,” Bella says. “My whole body would get really tired, and my legs felt heavy.”

Because it mimics the symptoms, student athletes suffering from EILO often get misdiagnosed with exercise induced asthma and this is what happened to Bella too. But there are some key differences. EILO happens in the upper airway instead of the lungs, so individuals struggle with inhalation not exhalation. The resulting high-pitched inhale often gets mistaken for wheezing. Also, EILO is triggered by intense exercise, not things like allergens and cold air.

Unlike asthma, which affects the lungs, EILO is a breathing issue that starts higher up in the throat. When the larynx narrows or closes during intense play, it can make athletes feel like they can’t breathe in. It’s scary, sudden, and often misunderstood, but not uncommon among student athletes – especially teenage girls.

Bella says she’s endured a lifetime of testing, wearing monitors during practices and games, treadmill tests, EKGs, echocardiograms, and lung tests and initially received a vocal cord dysfunction diagnosis by a local doctor. Today the condition goes by a new name, Exercise-Induced Laryngeal Obstruction or EILO.

Those affected by the condition often report feeling as if their throat is closing or they are being forced to breathe through a straw. It’s terrifying and can not only lead to decreased athletic performance but also anxiety and panic attacks.

Though doctors don’t yet know the exact cause of EILO, contributing factors seem to include high-performance exercise or sports training in youth, anatomical variations in the larynx, improper breathing technique, and heightened stress or anxiety responses during competition.

Doctors initially diagnosed Bella with asthma, but when inhalers didn’t help, the Tuckers kept searching for answers. That’s when a local doctor diagnosed Bella with EILO.

“He told me that so many kids end up quitting sports, because they think they’re just not athletic,” Bella’s mom Lindy says. “I do think that a lot of kids quit before they even make it, probably to middle school, because they just think in their mind, oh, sports aren’t for me.”

A Trip to Denver Changed Everything

Relieved to have an answer but wanting more information, Bella’s mom, Lindy, joined Facebook groups where other parents with student athletes discussed the condition. That’s when she discovered a program at National Jewish Hospital in Denver that specializes in EILO. In fact, it’s the only such program in the U.S.

During this year’s AAU basketball season in April, Bella’s shortness of breath during games appeared to be getting worse. That’s when Lindy mentioned the National Jewish Hospital program in passing to her dad, Troy McKenzie, and he did hesitate.

“Sign her up,” he insisted. “I’ve watched her struggle to breathe for the last time. I’m taking her.”

Lindy says she initially thought he was joking but when he kept calling every day to remind Lindy to get the information, she finally made the appointment and Troy’s wife, Teena, booked the flights and hotel. By June of this year, Bella got a diagnosis confirmation. She suffered from vocal cord dysfunction or EILO.

“It is four times harder for her to breathe than her teammates, they told her,” Lindy says.

While at National Jewish Hospital, doctor and respiratory therapist spent a week carefully diagnosing Bella. They ran blood work and ran multiple tests to rule out other things like asthma and asked her to run on a treadmill with a scope in her throat. On the first attempt, as Bella started to exert more energy, they all watched as the top of her throat closed – confirming the EILO diagnosis.

The following day, Bella met with a speech therapist who taught her specific breathing techniques that would help her vocal cords stay open during a basketball game.

One of the techniques involves taking three normal breaths and then putting her top lip to her teeth, which closes the vocal cords. On the exhale, the vocal cords open back up, allowing Bella to take in a full breath that lets in oxygen. They also taught her specific basketball game routines, like taking a breath after a shot that should become second nature to her with practice.

“That’s what we loved about this program,” Lindy says. “If you’re a swimmer, they put you in a pool and teach you how to do this breathing technique in the pool. The last day she was there, they had her on the basketball court and worked with her on the timing – like when you post up, this is when you need to breathe to open it up.”

Then she spoke to a psychiatrist who gave her tools for dealing with anxiety created by EILO.

“They told me that they could teach me all breathing techniques, but if I couldn’t control the anxiety that comes with an attack, it wouldn’t do me any good. I’ve got to be able to control that,” Bella says.

She now utilizes a pre-game and in-game routine that helps her feel more in control and helps her calm down if she feels an attack coming on.

“She also told me just to focus on the present, and not worry about what’s going to happen, but just focus on right now,” Bella says.

Lindy and Bella say the more she practices her new skills, the more they become second nature. Doctors also told her that over time Bella’s vocal cords muscles may learn to do the right thing and stay open.

Since basketball season is now months away, Bella runs outside or on a treadmill to practice her new skill set. She hopes by the first game, to be doing it as second nature.

From Misunderstood to Empowered

In the end, Bella says she feels relieved to have both a diagnosis and a plan. She says suffering with EILO often left her feeling misunderstood and frustrated – so much so that she considered quitting basketball.

“Last summer, I kept telling my parents that I couldn’t do this anymore. I was close to quitting at the time,” Bella says.

Now headed into her senior year, she’s got a renewed spark and a pep in her step all because of a tenacious grandfather and a mother who never stopped looking for answers. It’s even given her renewed hope that she might continue her basketball career into college.

“I never would have gotten the help if it wasn’t for them,” Bella says. “They never kept fighting for me and I’m so very thankful.”•

About The Lynchburg Times
The Lynchburg Times is an independent, woman-owned newspaper rooted in the heart of southern middle Tennessee. Led by a Tulane-educated journalist with over two decades of experience covering this region, we shine a light on the people, politics, and cultural pulse of a changing South. From breaking news to slow storytelling, we believe local journalism should inform, empower, and preserve what makes this place unique. Supported by readers and community partners, we’re proud to be part of the new Southern narrative – one story at a time. [Support us here.]