My name is Carla Williams. I am a supporter of Mothers & Others for Clean Air. I learned about Mothers & Others when I started working for a county health department in 2012.
Clean air is important to me because we need clean air to live and help prevent health risks due to air pollution such as premature death, respiratory illness such as asthma and lung cancer.
When I was pregnant with my third baby in 1996, my mother-in-law asked if she could baby sit once I returned to work. Of course I said yes. She told us she had a nagging cough that she wanted to take care of before the baby arrived so she went to see a doctor a month before the baby was due. She received devastating news that she had lung cancer. She had never smoked a day in her life and was very health conscious way before it was the thing to do.
I had my baby in February 1996. My mother-in-law started chemotherapy and radiation in March and was dead in April of 1996. This took a huge toll on our entire family. I am still confused on how she contracted lung cancer. I believe it’s due to unhealthy levels of pollution caused by the power plant near our neighborhood.
Too many people have gotten sick or died prematurely because of air pollution. That’s why I support the Clean Air Act and urge the EPA to adopt the most protective standards on air pollutants. The vulnerable have suffered too long already.
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Written by Carla Williams
