Background

I was born and raised in California and am a proud mother of one daughter. I am the granddaughter of an iron worker, Johney Carroll, who worked at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) , Hanford Reservation and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion plant. He was a strong union member, dedicated to workers’ rights and he had a great influence on shaping my values.  

He contracted Asbestosis, Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD) Prostate Cancer , which took his life in 2008. He was a fighter, and prior to his death, he participated in a lawsuit against the Dept. of Energy, for Nevada Test Site workers. He lobbied in Washington and was one of the lead claimants on this 1982 class action suit. He was also featured on a “60 Minutes” broadcast. 

 During my research for his case, I discovered there were 240 claimants, and of those, 230 of them had died. With the exception of 13 of the deceased, everyone died of cancers. The most prevalent were cancers of the blood, stomach or brain. Most of these people had died while in the prime of their lives, in their mid-forties. I found all of this alarming and I began educating myself on the health and safety of nuclear workers.  I have been in the pursuit of justice for these people and others like them, since.