Updated April 18th, 2019

Radon Caused My Lung Cancer says Olympic Hockey Star

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Olympian Rachel Malmberg says her lung cancer was caused by radon. Did you know that according to the National Cancer Institute, radon is the second leading environmental cause of lung cancer?

When she was just 31 years old, former USA women’s ice hockey star Rachel Malmberg was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. At the time of diagnosis, Malmberg was healthy, she didn’t smoke, she exercised regularly, and she had absolutely no idea that pain she began to feel in her back and ribs could be due to lung cancer.

The diagnosis really caught her off guard. It wasn’t until she began looking into the causes of lung cancer that it all began to come together for her. Malmberg says that it was radon that caused her cancer — a gas released from the normal decay of elements uranium, thorium, and radium found in rocks and soil. The hockey star had 22 lymph nodes removed in 2017, according to Fox News, as well as stereotactic brain radiation.

According to the National Cancer Institute, radon is invisible, odorless, tasteless, and can seep into homes through cracks in floors, walls, and foundations. Most of us are exposed to a very low level of radon in the air every day, and are not at risk because of it. But in some areas, and in some homes, levels of radon are higher — this can be due to either a home’s insulation, or certain elements in the soil a home is built on.

So just how dangerous is radon? Scientists estimate that 15,000 to 22,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States each year are related to radon. This is much smaller than the number of smoking-related lung cancer deaths — but it’s still a big number. That’s why Malmberg has become an advocate for radon awareness.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), radon present in a home at a level of 4 pCi/L has the potential to be dangerous, and should be addressed immediately. Malmberg’s childhood home had a level of 7.9 pCi/L, and the home she now shares with her husband and daughter in Minnesota had a level of 6.9 pCi/L, according to Fox News.

Research has been inconclusive about exactly how long someone needs to be exposed to radon for it to become dangerous, but for safety purposes, it’s worth it to make sure the levels in your home are OK. In Malmberg’s case, she has corrected the radon level in her home and installed a radon mitigation system — which reduces gas in homes and buildings, according to PEOPLE. She has also partnered with a company called Airthings — a system that can detect radon.

This month Malmberg launched a radon challenge, encouraging families to test the radon levels in their homes. “If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone,” she said in a video promoting the challenge.

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