Matt Fischer has been an asthmatic all his life. He remembers having fun with childhood friends one minute, then suddenly being laid out on the ground trying to breathe the next. That feeling of being helpless is what he and co-founder Dan Kirk are hoping to remedy with a start-up company that provides families with control over their children's asthma.

Their new device, called Control A+, analyzes environmental and internal risk factors in order to predict when a child is at high risk for having an asthmatic attack.

Here's how it works: first, a representative makes a home visit to inspect the house. While the rep is there, they'll drop off a toy-like medical device that measures lung function and a wall unit that collects indoor and outdoor environmental data.

After calculating data on the day's environmental risk factors and the child's lung capacity, the system sends a report to the child's doctor, push notifications to parents, and a list of recommended activities for the child. So far, Fischer been able to identify 72 potential risk factors to consider, weather and pollen count among them.

The kit is not quite finished, and a partnership with a medical device manufacturer will be necessary to bring it to market, according to Fast Company.

Control A+ competed in the Verizon Powerful Answers Competition and were invited to be a part of the Verizon Innovation Center. This video was created as a result.