10/15/2026
As we count down to Giving Tuesday, we’re sharing the stories of Canadians whose lives have been shaped by their lung health. Each story is a reminder of how lung health affects our everyday lives and why supporting lung health research, education and care matters.
At 87, Betsy reflects on her lung health journey. Read her story (edited for length):
"I have never not lived in the spume of coal dust. I was born in 1939 in New Jersey, downwind from multitudes of coal-fueled power plants and other industries. Our house was heated by coal until the early 1950s. We cooked with a coal gas stove for a long time, probably until the 1960s. Today, I live just north of Hillsburgh, Ontario surrounded by gravel pits. Fine particulate matter filters into the house; to combat it, we have three air purifiers scattered about.
For as long as I can remember, my nose dripped. Later in life I developed a chronic post-nasal drip that plagues me still, 87 years later... In 2013, I came down with another case of pneumonia, which turned septic, and I spent about three weeks in hospital. I had repeated bouts of pneumonia until I got the multi-valent pneumonia vaccine. But, like clockwork, I get at least two bouts of upper respiratory infections each year that hang on for weeks on end. So far, I have escaped lung disease (fingers crossed).
Reading about the environmental damage to our air reveals the probability that coal dust and other air pollutants (quarry dust, car exhaust, etc.) are the culprits behind my lifelong breathing /nasal issues. If it has taken me 87 years to understand the air quality problem, I suspect millions of people around the world are just as clueless as I was."
