In 2023 Bill Johnson was diagnosed with lung cancer.
“After I was diagnosed, I was kind of left there searching, you know, I wasn't an avid smoker,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour.” “And I was just kind of shell shocked at how I ended up being diagnosed with lung cancer.”
The then 42-year-old didn’t have the typical symptoms which can include persistent cough, shortness of breath and chest pain. Instead, he learned of his diagnosis from an MRI done after he hurt his back.
“My vertebrae were essentially crumbling and my hip, the bone was essentially so compromised that I could barely walk,” he said.
While trying to understand his diagnosis, Johnson learned that radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. and the main cause of the disease among non-smokers.
Radon comes from uranium deposits in soil that decay into radioactive gas and can seep into homes. He believes he was exposed to the gas working in his basement office over 15 years.
Johnson and his wife tested for radon when they bought their house 2010. After his diagnosis, they tested again.
“My brother and my wife tested the house and it was summertime, so it was well ventilated, so the levels were very low,” he said. “And then when I came home in October, all of a sudden it skyrocketed in that room.”
Johnson now works to educate Parkites on the risk of radon and advocates for annual testing. Utahns can receive a free radon test through UtahRadon.org or through the Utah Department of Environment Quality.
