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Thank you for the opportunity to post observations about what has happened to our family since we moved to the Portland area from the Midwest in 2000.

Initially we were well pleased with the move and have enjoyed the obvious beauty and proximity that the area offers so naturally. Over the years, however, we have all gradually become sicker with respitory illness that we attribute to a rising level of air pollution. Our symptoms include chronic coughing, headaches, mucous and fatigue...sometimes the symptoms last for the entire winter! We are now seriously rethinking about what the quality of life now means for us since we are still here.

We are interested in the physical symptoms of others who have moved here and how their bodies are coping with the air quality. If there is a way to get involved and become active in raising awareness, please let us know and we would participate. Oregon is very visually beautiful, but there are some invisible qualities that are becoming more and more less so...let's see if all of us can do something about it!

The Hayes family lives in the Robinwood area of West Linn.

posted 5 years ago
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