Your trusted source for community news
Vilma Harvill taught Dallas ISD high school students about radioactive decay for years. In May 2024, the 69-year-old former science teacher learned she was dying from it.
Stage 4 lung cancer. A lifelong non-smoker who ate well and exercised regularly, Harvill spent two weeks in the hospital while her family searched desperately for answers.
"Everybody was searching for information on the internet," Harvill said. "And then finally, my daughter-in-law said, we need to test the home for radon."
The results stunned them. Her Farmers Branch home tested at 11.6 picocuries per liter in her bedroom, nearly triple the EPA's action level. Follow-up testing in November showed even higher levels throughout the house.
"I was in shock," said Harvill, who retired from W.T. White High School in 2021 after teaching chemistry and Spanish. "I was teaching about radioactive decay, but it never crossed my mind that I would have that type of gas in my home."
She's not alone. One in ten Texas homes have elevated radon levels, yet most residents have never heard of the threat silently accumulating in their living rooms and bedrooms.
"Many people think, oh, Texas homes don't have radon," said Zan Jones, vice president of sales and marketing for Radonova and president of the Texoma chapter of Indoor Environments Association. "Which isn't true. I think it's lack of awareness and lack of articles written about it, lack of talk in the media."
That silence is deadly, said Jones. The EPA estimates radon causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually nationwide, including approximately 1,500 in Texas.
"Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers," said George Brozowski, EPA regional health physicist for Region 6, which covers Texas. "Overall, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer."
The radioactive gas forms from uranium decay in soil and rock, seeping through foundation cracks into homes where it accumulates. Exposure at the EPA action level of 4 picocuries per liter over a year equals the radiation of 200 chest X-rays.
"As you inhale it, it continues to decay and become radioactive, and as it becomes radioactive it damages the cells and the DNA of the cells that line your lungs that causes tumors and lung cancer," Jones said.
Testing is simple. Kits are available at home improvement stores or through Kansas State University's hotline at 1-800-SOS-RADON.
"Testing is the most important thing to do," said Lynn Johnson, an National Radon Proficiency Program (NRPP)-certified radon mitigator with Southwest Radon Eliminators. "You don't know if you have radon if you don't test."
If tests reveal dangerous levels, mitigation systems drill through the concrete slab, install piping connected to a continuously running fan, and exhaust the gas through the roof. Cost ranges from $2,700 to $3,200.
"We have seen levels drop by midnight that night," Johnson said.
Yet awareness remains low. Many Texas homeowners wrongly assume slab foundations protect them.
"A lot of people will say to me, well, I don't have a basement so I don't have to worry," Brozowski said. "The house is built right on the slab and still that is going to be the concern right there."
Harvill lived in her 1970 home for seven and a half years. Her real estate agent warned about lead paint. No one mentioned radon.
"If I knew at the time that I bought that house, I would do it," she said of testing. "The only warning that the real estate agent gave me was to be aware of the lead."
She hasn't been home since the hospital. She continues treatment at MD Anderson every three months. But recently, doctors declared the tumor undetectable after experimental treatments, chemotherapy and a strict homeopathic diet.
She plans to have Southwest Radon Eliminators mitigate the home and hopes to live there again one day.
"I don't want anybody else to go through what I went through," Harvill said. "It's devastating. Having a member of the family with cancer is very devastating for the whole family."
Governor Greg Abbott proclaimed January as Radon Action Month in Texas. Radon professionals hope awareness will finally match the threat.
For Harvill, awareness came seven years too late. Her focus now is her neighbors.
"If my home has those higher levels, my neighbors' homes could have high levels, too," Harvill said. "I just want the word to go out. Especially in Farmers Branch."
How to test your home for radon
Radon test kits are available at home improvement stores including Lowe's and Home Depot. Carrollton-based Alpha Energy Labs offers online ordering with mail-back analysis. Free test kits can be obtained by calling 1-800-SOS-RADON, a Kansas State University program partnered with the EPA. The EPA website at epa.gov/radon provides testing information and a directory of certified professionals. Test main living areas where people spend the most time. Avoid placing tests in kitchens or bathrooms. Follow kit instructions carefully as DIY kits are only accurate when used properly. If results show high or borderline radon levels, contact an NRPP-certified professional for follow-up testing. Find certified contractors at NRPP.info.
Local News Matters.
If you would like to read more stories about local health issues, please consider supporting the Branch Herald financially. We are actively seeking a company to sponsor a health page so we can offer more stories like this. Contact ads@branchherald.com.
