Houlton woman fights for son’s health
Staff Writer
HOULTON, Maine — More than four years ago, Lynn Graham and her family were faced with a serious problem — their son couldn’t breathe.
While attending school, Graham’s son would suffer from respiratory illnesses that would prevent him from returning to school. While he was home, he would recover, but once back at school, his symptoms would return. This began a long effort on Graham’s behalf to find out what was causing her son’s illness and how it could be stopped.
Since then, her efforts have not only been for her son, but for those who can’t speak for themselves. Graham has taken the clean air issue statewide and locally, insisting that more needs to be done to ensure that everyone has clean air to breathe.
Her mission has not gone unrecognized.
On Friday, Sept. 28, the American Lung Association honored Graham for her efforts in promoting and advocating for healthy air and for her leadership in passing Maine’s new law regulating the emissions from outdoor wood boilers.
“This is for the people that suffer every day from some type of a lung problem, breathing problem, heart problem — anything to do with their health,” explained Graham. “This honor is going to be for the little kids. All of the older people and the children, this is for them.
“I want them to be able to breathe and I want them to know that they can come to me, or they can come to anyone involved in this, and they will be heard,” she said. “I will take it as far as I can for them.”
Graham’s activism branched out within her community when she went before the Houlton Town Council earlier this year with her husband Brad to discuss her concerns about outdoor wood boilers. The Grahams felt the school was being affected by the smoke of a nearby outdoor wood boiler system and they also felt the smoke was the cause of their son’s prolonged respiratory problems. From that moment, the Grahams made it a priority to attend local and state meetings on the issue.
“I got involved with the state and I got involved in local code enforcement with the town and getting them to go through that school with a fine toothed comb and we found out a lot of stuff we didn’t know, like smoke was being hauled in by the intake and it was in there,” she explained. “We started thinking that there was a lot of parents out there that don’t have the time. I’m a busy person too, but I tried to take that moment and think that a lot of parents just don’t know what’s going on.
“So I decided I was going to become an activist for people that don’t know,” she added. “It’s really been an eye-opener for a lot of people. I really wasn’t looking for anything from this.
“This is for them,” she said.
Graham truly sees herself as a voice for public health and encourages others who have questions or concerns to contact her directly at 532-2814.
For more information go to www.mainelung.org or call 1-800-499-5864.
