Dr Wallace Akerley
Radon causes 100 lung cancer deaths in Utah every year: By: Kimberly Nelson
You see, Lisa has never been a smoker. "I had not been sick," said Jacobs. "I had been working full time. I was helping coach my daughter's competitive soccer team. I was working out with my girls, no cough, no anything."
But Lisa found a small bump on her neck. Cancer on her lymph nodes that doctors told her had to come from somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be a massive tumor in her left lung,
Board Member
Wallace Akerley, MD is a medical oncologist with
greater than 30 years experience as a principal
investigator on numerous clinical research trials who
actively cares for patients with lung cancer. With the
need for improved cancer treatment,
it is imperative to incorporate new
treatments when possible. Many of
the FDA approved agents were
studies at HCI years before they
were approved for every day use.
Contact: Wallace L. Akerley MD
HUNTSMAN CANCER INSTITUTE
801-213-4266
1950 Circle of Hope
Salt Lake City, UT  84112
Email: [email protected]
Board Member of Citizens for Radioactive
Radon Reduction .
Certified by: American Association of Radon Scientists and Technicians (AARST) / National Radon Proficiency Program (NRPP)
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Radiation is seeping into many Utah homes and most families don't even know it. For some, by the time they find out it's too late. They learn about radon gas after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Lisa Jacobs is living with lung cancer. "It was so confusing because my body had never told me that something was wrong." She was diagnosed in 2012. "Full body scans on Wednesday, showed up at the doctor's Thursday morning, they said you have stage 4 lung cancer and I said 'You're kidding right?'"
"I felt like how could I not know this." Lisa was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
It's a very similar story to Valerie Scott. Valerie is also a mother of 4, who was also diagnosed in 2012 with stage 4 lung cancer, and like Lisa, Valerie is not a smoker.
"I felt great," said Scott. "I didn't go in because I had any symptoms and I said 'How can I be dying when I feel this good?"
While Valerie had no symptoms of lung cancer the cancer had taken over both of her lungs.
"Like a snow globe, like if you had taken a snow globe, it was everywhere."
Lisa and Valerie are both being treated by Dr. Wallace Akerley at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He says there's little question about what caused these women's lung cancers.
"Lung cancer is caused by cigarettes, don't smoke cigarettes, number two cause is radon," said Dr. Akerley.
Radon is a radio active gas that's prevalent in utah. "It's essentially breathing radiation," said Dr. Akerley.
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