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EllaDean B., TN

My father smoked while I was growing up in the house, in the car, at the dinner table, and in my bedroom! It always took my breath! My husband did the same. I have never smoked, but I was diagnosed with sarcoidosis in the '80's.

I was in my forties, and my lungs looked like a man's who had worked in asbestos construction all his life the doctor said. He also said secondhand smoke would not harm me! In the following years we learned that secondhand smoke was really bad for health. People at work smoked until the '90's. I could not escape it!

My sarcoidosis has been inactive, praise God, for several years, but I get pneumonia more often now. I'm 74-years-old and have survived all of this but through no fault of my own, I suffer.

The air quality in Tennessee is terrible...I'm thinking of the life of my five great-grandchildren now. We live in Coffee County, and it is not even tested! Please help us all!

First Published: April 27, 2012

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