A biopsy of the lymph node confirmed it was lung cancer and it had spread to her brain.
Stage 4 cancer. There is no cure, but there is treatment.
New homeowners discover radon levels 9 times higher than recommended
Maddie Miller fell in love with the house as soon as she saw it last year online.
It’ s tucked away on a city cul‐de‐sac with a leafy backyard, kitchen island and finished basement rec room.
It was clear the home’ s sellers – Melissa Derrig and her husband, Stephen – meticulously cared for the home, inside and out.
Maddie and Ryan Miller installed a radon mitigation system shortly after moving into their home in Ellet, Ohio.
“ I was afraid for what was going to come next, but also relieved,” Melissa said.“ When you feel the things you’ re feeling and you’ ve been telling doctors... I was just validated in all the things going on.”
Yet, she was haunted by what had caused the cancer.
It nagged at her until one day, while her mom was on a walk in the Derrigs’ old neighborhood, she heard the neighborhood scuttlebutt: The young couple who bought the Derrigs’ home tested for radon and discovered that the house had levels far above what the EPA considers safe.
“ It was immaculate,” Maddie said. She sent a Zillow link of the home to her mom, a former real estate agent.
As they talked on speaker phone, Maddie mentioned that the owner has nonsmoker’ s lung cancer and the conversation took an unexpected serious turn.
“ Madison Chase,” Maddie’ s dad said, using her proper name, something he only did
when she had gotten in trouble as a girl.“ You need to get that house tested for radon.”
Her great‐grandmother, it turned out, had died from non‐smoker’ s lung cancer in Connecticut.
“ Her house lit up like a Christmas tree when they tested for radon,” her dad said.