In 2011, at age 37, I was diagnosed with non-small cell adenocarcinoma lung cancer. I was a young, healthy individual, and non-smoker with no family history of lung cancer.  It took several months of doctoring and an accidental finding on an MRI of my back to find the tumor in my lower right lobe.  I had a biopsy done, which indicated the tumor was cancerous.  Luckily, for me, my lung cancer was found early, and I was able to be treated with surgery and chemotherapy.  I had my lower right lobe removed and endured 4 months of chemotherapy. 

During my diagnosis and treatment, my doctor just kept referring to "environmental factors."  About a year after my treatment was over I started really researching lung cancer and environmental factors, contacting as many advocacy groups as I could.  There was one thing that kept sticking out to me and that was the fact that radon is the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer.  Everything I read boasted this statistic.  Every time I searched the internet for "lung cancer from environmental factors", radon was always at the top of the list!  This made me curious as I also found out that the state I live in, Nebraska, is the state with the 3rd highest Radon levels in our Nation. 

We had built our home in 2003. We immediately installed a mitigation system and now we can monitor our Radon level and it always below 1pCi/L.  I feel it is very important that everyone is made aware of the risk of high radon levels in your home. Having lung cancer changed my life in so many ways.  I am so grateful that I was diagnosed early and was able to be treated.  I am also grateful that I can share my story so that others can benefit from what I went through.