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By Derek Craddock

RADON ACTION MONTH

Is Radon secretly hiding in your home?

Nov 26, 2022 | 8:00 AM

It’s an odourless, colourless chemical that may be in your home without you knowing it.

Throughout November, Lung Saskatchewan has been raising awareness of the dangers of Radon during Radon Action Month.

Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium in the soil. When Radon is released it can get into homes and into your lungs, increasing your risk of lung cancer.

“A lot of people don’t know that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer,” said Bethany Verma with Lung Saskatchewan.

As part of its campaign for Radon Action Month, Verma is encouraging Saskatchewan residents to test their homes for Radon, saying it’s a risk that’s easily preventable.

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“That is one big step, they can take to prevent lung cancer.”

No one understands the effects of Radon more than Christine Elliot, who is helping raise awareness with Lung Saskatchewan on this matter,

Elliot spent her childhood in Watson, living with her mom and Stepdad. Her Stepdad would later develop cancer and soon after, the disease also caught Elliot.

At first, she said, the cancer was diagnosed as Breast Cancer. But nodes were later found in one of her lungs. That, according to Elliot, was very suspicious.

“I was very young, had never smoked, was very healthy,” she said. “So that’s what got the wheels turning on why is there seeming to be a trend here of lung cancer. It was not related to the other cancer I had had. It was instead its own primary cancer, which was suspicious.”

One day, a doctor asked her if she had heard of Radon, which she did not. That’s when she contacted Lung Saskatchewan to have her home tested for gas.

“We tested my childhood home, and my childhood home came back high for radon levels,” she said. “So, the bedroom that I grew up in was where we tested it and it came back very high. So that clarified for me that my cancer was in fact a lung cancer that was connected to radon.”

Elliot is now a cancer survivor but is using her story to warn others about the dangers of Radon.

“The awareness that I really want to share with everyone is that radon is absolutely present, it is really, really common, especially in the prairie provinces. It was something we did not understand until now.”

Meanwhile, Verma is encouraging people in Saskatchewan to purchase tests for Radon, adding it’s an easy step to take.

“The test kits we use are long-term radon tests which means that you put them in your home for 90 days and they collect radon data and then you send it back to the lab to be analyzed.”

More information can be found on Tackle Randon, an initiative by Lung Saskatchewan and other provincial organizations featuring stories like Christine’s and help from CFL players.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @PA_Craddock