Sunday, March 3, 2013

Keep those lungs healthy

 In an effort to raise awareness of Lung Health, the Detroit Chapter of the American Lung Association sponsored a stair climb up 70 floors of Detroit's Renaissance Center. Reading the article, I noticed people climbing the stairs for relatives, friends, co-workers, etc. who have passed on from or had survived Lung Cancer. My aunt passed away from lung cancer in April of 2002 at the age of 43, and she never smoked. In recent years, this has become an issue, with more and more nonsmokers getting lung cancer, My mother was always concerned  that the Lung cancer came on by Asbestos in my aunt's  High School when she attened in the 1970s. The school was built around World War 1 (1917-1922), and Asbestos was the preferred method of insulation in many schools, office buildings, homes and theatres built before the 1980s (There are some older abandoned theatres that still have Asbestos curtains in them). Nowadays, you hear about lawyers specializing in Mesothelioma cases on TV and the radio, and people filing suit against the companies or organizations they worked for in the past to get money for their healthcare and other financial issues. .  My late mother was a longtime smoker, and had tried to quit before she passed in 2007. She had always told me that she was afraid of going through the symptoms of Withdrawal. She had chewed the store brand of Nicorette gum for a long time without going to the next stage. Sometimes, I wonder if that had played a part in her passing.

Maternity Homes

 This building and its past use has been on my mind here recently, as well as the former hospital, behind me as I was taking this picture, n...