A healthy Utah nurse who has never smoked, runs regularly, and eats healthy was diagnosed with lung cancer, which led her to wonder what could have possibly caused it.
Anjee Chynoweth spoke to her doctor about the diagnosis. She said, "I was obviously just asking my doctors, a surgical oncologist, why on earth do they think that I have lung cancer." Her doctor told her that it was most likely radon, reported ABC 4.
Chynoweth said, "I said I've never been around radon. You know, I thought it was something that you encountered in the workplace or something."
According to Utah Radon Coordinator Eleanor Divver, radon is the number one cause of lung cancer death for non-smokers. And the bad part is that you can't see or smell the gas. You can test for it, however, for as little as $10.
When Chynoweth's home was tested, high levels of the toxin were found. Chynoweth said, "I was just devastated because my girls all live, you know, live here and live in the basement."
Chynoweth is now fighting stage four lung cancer and hopes that her story will encourage others to have their homes tested for the toxin.
Click here to see a map of the areas in Utah that are more likely to have high levels of radon.