My life is proof that a curse can become a blessing. I was diagnosed with allergic asthma at age 2, and when two rounds of allergy shots and specialists proved unsuccessful, I learned to live with the disease. Admittedly, as I grew up, my habit of collecting every half-starved cat or dog, hamster, or rat did little to help my animal dander allergies. So I had drawers of medications and inhalers, and my weakened lungs meant I contracted pneumonia several times before I was 10 years old.