Radiation – and a cancer ward, letter in this weeks Westmorland Gazette

The following letter was published in this weeks Westmorland Gazette in reply to the letter “Radiation is part of the environment” published in the same newspaper on the 22nd January.

Dear Editor

Having first become acquainted with the effects of radiation as an 18 month old toddler being treated for a cancer thought to be terminal in the late 1950’s , I feel I have sufficient years of experience to respond to the debate on radiation’s safety on your letters page 
Kent Brooks sneeringly describes Marianne Birkby and the anti nuclear lobby as ‘ill informed’, mockingly inferring ‘having no scientific qualifications whatsoever’ makes one not capable of expressing views on ‘a deeply scientific problem’.
Kent extols the virtues of ( the well qualified scientists at?) Calder Hall, but surprisingly omits to mention that in 1957 the accidental Windscale Fire on this site, uncontrollably released radiation over UK and Europe,and was seen as the world’s worst nuclear accident at the time. Of course, Windscale’s name was soon after changed in a PR exercise, to hide the embarrassment. Windscale still ,70 yrs later, is seen as amongst the worst worldwide nuclear accidents

I was born 7 months later- just over the Solway, so at the crucial 8 week in utero age when the radiation was being spread uncontrollably -perhaps Kent might explain to those less educated the increased risks at that precise time of development?
The cancer took hold very quickly in a rapidly developing infant, so by 18 months I had had half my chest surgically cut open and was being treated, far far away from family , on an adult cancer ward ( no kids cancer ward then). The nightmares continue regularly to this day, and a hug is still something I inwardly still freeze away from ( surgical incisions went so deep around my chest )
I am not alone- as Iain Fairlie’s research on child cancer rated near nuclear sites around EU showed

To start a child’s life off with cancer, has repercussions for life, in most cases. That is nothing for a society to take pride in
The nuclear industry of course has the great advantage of the the difficulty in pointing what caused a cancer. In my own case, the head a national cancer institute on hearing my story, thought it very plausible Windscale could be the cause
The long term effects of radiation to a young child were , once again, denied as long as possible by scientists, but luckily the development of the internet enabled many who thought they were isolated cases , to find others similarly treated as youths, with in many cases, life limiting side effects as a result of the radiation treatment itself. There are now national medical guidelines on trying to reduce the impact of the long term effects

Dr Alice Stewart was ridiculed and ostracised for years, decades , as she tried to raise awareness of the risks of x rays on pregnant women, on feet in shoe shops -but eventually the evidence could not be denied even by the most highly qualified scientist.
Cancer has immensely impacted my life, but luckily I have survived , and with decades of personal experience of the impact of radiation on the human body , I thank and praise Radiation Free Lakeland for doing all they can to prevent other young children starting their life off with cancer

Caroline McManus 
Galloway 
Scotland