What happened, in summary

Rachael Malmberg was an Olympic athlete, an active-duty service member, and otherwise healthy when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Because she did not match the profile she expected, she began researching possible causes and learned about radon. Within 2 weeks, she tested her home and found a high radon level. Her childhood home also tested so high that the family repeated the test, with the same result.

Rachael was living with Stage IV EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer. Her experience turned radon from an unfamiliar environmental risk into a central part of her advocacy. She encouraged people to test and continue monitoring their homes, then act on high results rather than assuming a single test was enough.

Alongside her advocacy, Rachael continued working full time in cancer diagnostic sales and served as president of Cancer Survivors Against Radon and Women Against Radon. She also remained a busy single mother to her 6-year-old daughter, showing how work, parenting, and public advocacy continued alongside advanced lung cancer.