Comments on: Should We Test for Radon? http://www.lauraslocal.com/?p=2628 Real Estate News for Palatine, Barrington & Inverness Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:16:32 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Gloria Linnertz http://www.lauraslocal.com/?p=2628&cpage=1#comment-16064 Gloria Linnertz Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:16:32 +0000 http://www.lauraslocal.com/?p=2628#comment-16064 Thanks so much for helping to prevent future radon-induced lung cancer deaths. When my husband, Joe, mentioned that we should check for radon, I responded, "No, we have a very tight basement and a relatively new house." I didn't know what radon gas was, but I was absolutely sure that it wasn't in our house. I didn't know that living in a house for a long period of time with high levels of radon was like smoking 48 cigarettes a day; that if a person had ever smoked or was a current smoker living with high levels of radon, the chance was 1 in 4 of developing lung cancer; that radon-induced lung cancer takes the lives of 22,000 people each year; that radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers; that there is only a 15% five-year survivor rate once diagnosed; that lung cancer kills more Americans than colon, prostate, breast, kidney and liver cancer combined; that radon is present all over the world; that it can be present in any type of home, old or new, brick or vinyl, basement or flat slab; that up to 10 million homes in the US have high radon levels; that it is easy to test for radon. In Dec. 2005, Joe was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his liver and bones. We were devastated. On our second visit to the oncologist, we asked what could have caused this; he said, “smoking and radon gas”. Joe hadn't smoked in 27 years. Lung cancer took Joe's life Feb. 8, 2006. One month after his death, I heard on the news “radon gas can be a cause of lung cancer.” I remembered what the doctor had said and researched the Internet to find that a test kit could be purchased at the hardware store. The results of this test revealed we had been living for 18 years with a radon level over four times the EPA action level. I secured an Illinois state licensed radon mitigator to install a radon mitigation system immediately. I had great confidence in the qualifications and professionalism of my mitigator. I knew from the referral by Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the Nuclear Safety Division that this individual was legitimate and that his work performance would be exemplary. You may not know what it feels like to hear the devastating news that your spouse has lung cancer. You may not know the helpless and hopeless feeling that occurs as you wonder how this could have happened, but I know. I hope you never know. Please test your home for radon. I wish someone had told us before we bought our home. Thanks so much for helping to prevent future radon-induced lung cancer deaths. When my husband, Joe, mentioned that we should check for radon, I responded, “No, we have a very tight basement and a relatively new house.” I didn’t know what radon gas was, but I was absolutely sure that it wasn’t in our house.
I didn’t know that living in a house for a long period of time with high levels of radon was like smoking 48 cigarettes a day; that if a person had ever smoked or was a current smoker living with high levels of radon, the chance was 1 in 4 of developing lung cancer; that radon-induced lung cancer takes the lives of 22,000 people each year; that radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers; that there is only a 15% five-year survivor rate once diagnosed; that lung cancer kills more Americans than colon, prostate, breast, kidney and liver cancer combined; that radon is present all over the world; that it can be present in any type of home, old or new, brick or vinyl, basement or flat slab; that up to 10 million homes in the US have high radon levels; that it is easy to test for radon.
In Dec. 2005, Joe was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his liver and bones. We were devastated. On our second visit to the oncologist, we asked what could have caused this; he said, “smoking and radon gas”. Joe hadn’t smoked in 27 years.
Lung cancer took Joe’s life Feb. 8, 2006. One month after his death, I heard on the news “radon gas can be a cause of lung cancer.” I remembered what the doctor had said and researched the Internet to find that a test kit could be purchased at the hardware store. The results of this test revealed we had been living for 18 years with a radon level over four times the EPA action level. I secured an Illinois state licensed radon mitigator to install a radon mitigation system immediately. I had great confidence in the qualifications and professionalism of my mitigator. I knew from the referral by Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the Nuclear Safety Division that this individual was legitimate and that his work performance would be exemplary.

You may not know what it feels like to hear the devastating news that your spouse has lung cancer. You may not know the helpless and hopeless feeling that occurs as you wonder how this could have happened, but I know. I hope you never know. Please test your home for radon. I wish someone had told us before we bought our home.

]]>