DoomsdaysCW<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Billiman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Billiman</span></a> matriarch, niece remain strong in face of adverse health conditions caused by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RadiationExposure" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RadiationExposure</span></a> </p><p>By Donovan Quintero | Jan 9, 2025 | </p><p>WINDOW ROCK – "Since September, when she traveled to Washington, D.C., to tell House Speaker Mike Johnson to renew the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RECA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RECA</span></a>), Maggie Billiman has had her gallbladder removed.</p><p>"Now she is awaiting more possibly devastating news about her liver. And if that wasn’t enough bad news, she said she was also told she has three cysts on her pancreas.</p><p>"'I just had surgery and I’m still in a lot of pain,' she said on Dec. 26, referring to her gallbladder removal surgery.</p><p>"A <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/downwinder" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>downwinder</span></a> victim, Billiman, and about 30 others from the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NavajoNation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NavajoNation</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Laguna" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Laguna</span></a>, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AcomaPueblo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AcomaPueblo</span></a> tribes traveled to Washington, D.C., in September to advocate for the passage of Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s RECA legislation.</p><p>"For 17 years, from 1945 and 1962, the U.S. conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear weapons development tests. Atmospheric nuclear tests are when nuclear bombs are exploded in the air, instead of underground or underwater.</p><p>"At the heart of the bombs involved <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumMining</span></a> and [<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumProcessing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumProcessing</span></a>], which was performed by tens of thousands of workers, like Maggie’s father.</p><p>"Maggie’s father, a member of the legendary Navajo Code Talkers Howard Billiman Sr., worked in the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/UraniumMines" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>UraniumMines</span></a>.</p><p>"'My dad had died of stomach cancer, he was one of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NavajoCodeTalkers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NavajoCodeTalkers</span></a>, and he passed away,' she said.</p><p>"Her father worked at the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KennecottMine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KennecottMine</span></a> in Utah. He also worked at the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KingmanMine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>KingmanMine</span></a> in Arizona in the 1950s through the 1960s, Maggie said.</p><p>"After the tests ended in 1962, many of the uranium miners and process workers initiated class action lawsuits claiming exposure to known radiation hazards."</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://navajotimes.com/reznews/billiman-matriarch-niece-remain-strong-in-face-of-adverse-health-conditions-caused-by-radiation-exposure/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">navajotimes.com/reznews/billim</span><span class="invisible">an-matriarch-niece-remain-strong-in-face-of-adverse-health-conditions-caused-by-radiation-exposure/</span></a> <br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoWar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoWar</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Downwinders" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Downwinders</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NukingTheNavajo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NukingTheNavajo</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Dine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Dine</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LagunaPueblo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LagunaPueblo</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Genocide" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Genocide</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnvironmentalRacism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EnvironmentalRacism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoUraniumMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoUraniumMining</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoMiningWithoutConsent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NoMiningWithoutConsent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HaulNo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HaulNo</span></a></p>