[Cat allergies and asthma you poor soul. Alan doesn't envy this boy a bit. He knows those feelings of waking gasping for breath that comes too short as weak pained puffs, when his chest is far too tight and coughing is bone-jarring. They're not the different.]

They do have flotation devices now. Some pools have a shallower wading area. They have people that can teach you to swim. The cold would have been an issue for me personally at your age, now they make them heated as well.