Some of our Journeys
PK: June 2020 - I was fortunate that a newer full-size house became available for rent just outside the 10-mile radius when I needed to come to the Green Bank area. I wanted to see if living in a minimal wi-fi environment would help my EMF sensitivities. For two years, I lived in the area until the owners wanted to sell the house. Unfortunately, there was nothing else to rent, so I had to leave the area. Living in a minimal wi-fi environment, around people that were cognizant of the health implications of wireless radiation was very helpful. Housing is a critical quality-of-life issue for Green Bank. Like most rural areas in this country there is little surplus housing stock. If a house is available, it is often too close to a major road and other people's wi-fi. Many properties are tied to a large track of agricultural or non-cultivated land which aren’t affordable for most people and/or there is so much cost associated with clearing, adding a road, grading, running utilities, etc. To have a planned community with affordable housing to own and/or rent, medical care, a good grocery store, a small multi-use center and a restaurant would be a successful combination that would attract many interested people to the area. It would provide jobs to a county that desperately needs employment options.
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SH: It was an innate survival instinct which allowed me to pack up and leave everyone and everything I had ever known and relocate from the harmful suburbs north of New York City to the welcoming safety of the ‘Radio Quiet Zone’ in Green Bank, West Virginia. Due to the ceaseless, undisciplined proliferation of wireless technology, I had by 2009 developed a dizzying array of debilitating medical symptoms; which included burning skin sensations, headaches, enervation, tinnitus, numbness in my extremities, impaired focal concentration, as well as cardia arrhythmia. After numerous consultations with leading medical specialists, I was finally diagnosed with Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome (EHS), also known to the scientific community as Radio-Wave or Microwave Sickness. Today, though Wi-Fi and shedding electricity from poorly insulated power-lines remain a challenge, I am much better able to manage my symptoms and enjoy an enhanced quality of life in my new home of Green Bank. However, obtaining accessible medical care both now, and in the future, remains an exceptionally difficult concern and challenge. I am unable to use tele-health services and don’t know how I could survive a hospital stay, if one were necessary. EHS is a lifelong functional impairment, and those of us who suffer with this condition still lack access to this basic human need.
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LT: In February 2010 I began experiencing painful bodily symptoms while in the presence of cell phones. I experience headaches, nerve pains, heart palpitations, anxiety, confusion, and life threatening circumstances when in the presence of wireless devices that are emitting microwave radiation.
Over this past decade, episodes that lasted for hours and days have often left me in a bed ridden state, incapable of moving. Routers, computers, cell towers, blue tooth, and satellites have all induced various levels of excruciating pain and sickness, often leaving me on the brink of death.
In April of 2020 I was forced to move from Atlanta, Georgia; as my symptoms escalated over a three week period resulting in life threatening cardiac responses. An emergency status developed requiring my immediate departure. I was directed to Green Bank, WV in order to evade the presence of cell towers. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi and Router Hot Spots seem to be everywhere. It has proven next to impossible to find a residence free of such frequencies. Everyday is a struggle to survive, as they continue to pose a threat to my existence and well being.
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CB: My family and I moved to West Virginia last year after discovering I suffer from EHS. When we left our home I was so ill and in such pain it was literally a life or death choice. The choice was obvious but the move was hard. We left everything behind to find a safe space. The home we invested almost 10 years into, gone. Our only option we had when we got to Green Bank was to live in our camper. We had no money to purchase or build a safe home and little income. A year later we are still in transition and have yet to find an affordable and safe rental space to live. This is why it is imperative, not only for me and my family, but also for the many others with similar stories, to build affordable and safe rental homes in Green Bank.
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HT: I was sick enough that it took two attempts to get all the way to Green Bank, only 8 hours from my home. The first time I went I could hardly navigate the roads through Pennsylvania. They were so laden with trucks related to the booming fracking industry among other trucking needs, that I returned home after three hours of driving. The second time I went, I was in such agony from wi-fi and dirty electricity saturation that I was rocking and groaning as I drove through much of the densely populated areas. It was not until I got into the “Quiet Zone” that my neurobiology began to calm down. The feeling of being activated can feel like a horrible inflammation of the gut and brain. Almost like a chronic tasering of the neurons. That night, alone in a strange place, I felt something I had not felt since childhood. Where the earth itself had an alive, luscious feeling beneath my bare feet, as I grounded to a different planet called Green Bank. I noticed my thoughts and sense of self calmed to a sense of single-mindedness and that my handwriting was no longer erratic and my mind un-scattered. And the inflammation had calmed all the way down and I no longer had the feeling my body could not run itself. My journey to Green Bank began when I could no longer open my laptop without setting off a hyperthyroid shaking response. But the symptoms related to too much EMF and accumulated overload, happened about 5 years prior, where I struggled to live and work and focus enough to be able to pay bills for my family. What had happened to my bright and facile mind? What had happened to my joy and energy? Why was I walking around like a 70 year old arthritic woman? Why couldn’t I think straight or follow through on anything? I lost the decade of my 40's as I raised beautiful young children, to what I first kept treating as Lyme Disease, and later got much better results from putting myself into a faraday cage each night. By taking the hand held Dect Phones out of my house and turning off the wi-fi router. Then by changing-out my “Smart Meter” and re-cabling our computers and keeping phones on airport mode. Later, taking all new energy saving bulbs out of my house and by hiring a Bau Biology trained EMF assessor. Finally, to further my healing from EMF injuries, by renting out my beloved house in the village (with its high EMF readings) and moving to farm in a valley where the EMF readings are not detectible, my family and I immediately noticed that, “I, was back!” Visiting Green Bank let me know, that being in the soup of EMF pollution is real. Living in a low-emf zone has helped. But I remain a refugee, waiting for the moment that I am not in a minority, trying to appear sane to others who have yet to notice that their own and their children’s physical and emotional ailments may likely be related to EMF saturation. With 5G entering our world from satellites and small cells being rolled out behind our backs, as an EMF sufferer, I will need refuge that cannot be accomplished by moving to a valley. I hope to see Green Bank become such a refuge. Housing that would guard against all of these wavelengths and 5G will be critical for my own and others who need a safe place to live. I am hoping to buy something in the quiet zone in the next year or two (one more child finishing high school). I have been very excited to hear that there may be new housing developed with EMF safety in mind. I will not be able to live into old age in assisted facilities loaded with wi-fi and smart devices.
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BD: I started becoming aware that I was being negatively affected by wireless technology and electricity in general back in the mid 2000’s when I started getting sharp pains in my hands while using a cell phone. A few years later I bought a laptop computer and started having severe symptoms including brain fog and strong sharp pains in my head whenever the wi-fi would be turned on. As more and more of this technology has saturated our environment, my health has gotten progressively worse. I currently suffer from these and many other symptoms, including being basically disabled with extremely low body weight due to constant nervous system stimulation and the inability to function in high EMF environments. Therefore I cannot work or live in places with high and constant radiation exposure.
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CAW: I started having symptoms 4 yrs ago. Confusion, feeling spacey, memory lapses, the inability to think clearly. The inability to process information in a timely fashion, the inability to retain information, clumsiness and lethargy. The first three times the symptoms occurred in the summer lasted 4-6 weeks and all but the lethargy and memory loss subsided. I went to the ER twice, as I thought I was having a stroke. Both times I was assured this was not the case and no probable cause was found. I had multiple tests, blood work, etc., and nothing. The fourth time, last July, the symptoms lasted much longer and really did not go away. I was able to work, but I was really worried. "What was happening?" By chance, my friend had visited the Green Bank Radio telescope in Green Bank, WV. She was telling me about the "Radio Quiet Zone" where no cell phones were allowed and while she was there she "felt different, better." This piqued my curiosity and I started reading about the telescope and this is when I learned about "RF" - radio frequency - radio waves, which lead me to articles and books on the effects of radio waves on the body. I had heard of x-rays and gamma rays and the negative effects they produce, but I had never heard about the effects that the lower frequency radio waves, microwaves, cell phone/wi-fi/electricity could have on the body. NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER did I think that my cell phone, the cell phone towers in my neighborhood, my wi-fi, and the wi-fi from everyone else could be the source of my symptoms. Not one person I told my symptoms to thought of it either. I was really amazed by the fact that the medical profession was in the dark too. I didn't know if this was my problem, so I started experimenting. I turned the wi-fi off in my apartment and decreased my cell phone use by 90%. I set my computer up using the Ethernet connection and used my cell phone for calls only. I started feeling better! I bought a meter that measures the electromagnetic frequencies and started staying away or eliminating those things with high readings. One thing I did find that was harder to get rid of was the "dirty electricity" in the walls of my apartment. The wall next to the head of my bed, the wall that my head was against every night for 8 hours had a huge reading. Unbelievably, everything in my surroundings was making me sick. What on earth was I going to do? Where could I go? I could turn off my electronics, but I could do nothing about my neighborhood or my place of employment. This lead me to the Radio Quiet Zone in Green Bank, WV - a 10 mile radius of no cell phone towers. I had to get to this area. I was very lucky. I found a living/working situation immediately. I quit my job, packed my car, and moved within weeks. Once I arrived, I started feeling better. My symptoms have pretty much subsided, but one cannot be away from every single thing that emits electromagnetic frequency. Depending on what I come into contact with, my symptoms fluctuate, but I feel 90% better. Like I said, I was very lucky finding the living situation I have now, as this is not the case for many others because this is a rural area. Housing is limited and there are just no communities that offer EMF free houses. No one has thought to do this before! I feel it is imperative to build affordable housing that is free of electromagnetic radio waves, a safe place for people to live and get better. I feel it is important to build a community of EMF free housing, stores, businesses and medical facilities, so we can live here, work here, be here, for the rest of our lives. Imagine a community that is concerned for the welfare of the people who live there. Creating not only an EMF toxin free area, but a chemical toxin free area. Buildings, materials, supplies, everything one uses in their daily life would be free from harmful toxins!!! This is an opportunity to show the rest of the world that it can be done. It is time to make the changes needed to benefit the people and our environment. I am glad to be a part of it. Thank you for listening to me.
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FM: The main circumstance that I noticed while living in the condo in Columbus, Ohio was mostly fatigue that I had never had before. All my neighbors were switching to WI-FI from Ethernet. At my job, working at one of the largest churches in the Columbus metro area, I carried a cell phone in my back pocket, (which was required). I sat at four computer monitors and two PC's with WI-FI throughout the building. I developed severe incontinence which I no longer have since moving to Green Bank. I went back to Columbus Ohio recently for personal business. I can tell you, there is no way I can live there again. I would be glad to speak more in depth and face to face if anyone would like that.
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JW: Living in Missouri, I was self employed and worked at a laptop 10-12 hours a day in a neighborhood that had about 15 wi-fi routers reaching my home. My work capacity gradually dropped over 3 years from 10 hours to maybe one hour and then most of the day was spent on the couch looking at the ceiling because I couldn't concentrate enough to read, nor had the energy to get off the couch. I moved to Green Bank and started working at an Inn and was back to 8-10 hours of physical activity almost immediately.
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RL: One paragraph can't even begin to describe the suffering, financial hardship, and ostracism one experiences living with electromagnetic hypersensitivity. May God help those who are afflicted with this most debilitating disease. Moving to Green Bank was, at the time, considered a 'risky' decision. In hindsight it was the best and only thing left for us to do. It, however, did not come without further frustration as housing was less than adequate, shopping is remote, and medical treatment is a 45 minute drive. For Green Bank to satisfy the refugee requirements these things must improve. For our part we decided to live closer to Marlinton to be closer to these essential needs, while still lowering the risk of EMF exposure.
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KS: Many people with Microwave Injury, (electro sensitivity) have moved to Green Bank, West Virginia. Everyone living here has a heartbreaking story to tell. Green Bank is the only place in the US where cell towers and smart meters are banned because of the Green Bank Observatory, and we are grateful the Observatory is here. In my lifetime I have spent time as a musician and music teacher. I have had fun hobbies and enjoyed my family and friends. I have especially loved time with nature. Like everyone, I have had good times in my life and I have had bad times in my life, but nothing prepared me for Microwave Radiation Sickness (electro sensitivity). It takes everything from you. In 2016, at almost 60 years of age, like so many I was forced out of my home by ever encroaching wireless radiation which invaded my home. For ten months I lived in a temporary location out in the country while I researched trying to figure out what I was going to do. After looking into several different locations and spending a lot of money trying, (in vain), to shield my former home, I finally decided I had to flee to Green Bank, West Virginia. The decision to move to West Virginia was very hard. I left family and friends behind. I was forced to leave a 30-year life, just like that! But I had no choice, I could no longer live in the wireless 'real world.' Although this drastic change had to take place, it is done! Settled, I live in a beautiful place that for now has much less RF overall. I can enjoy nature once again, and I can sleep once again. Many folks coming here are without housing, some without resources. This thing turns a person’s life upside down. Affordable rental housing that is built with electro sensitivity and multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) in mind, is a must. One of my personal concerns is health care. With wireless now in most buildings, where are we suppose to get help if we need a hospital or assisted care as we age? This is a real dilemma that must be addressed, and is a violation of our human rights.
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CB: In 1991, I had recently graduated from George Washington University with a Masters Degree in International Travel and Tourism. I was teaching at Northern Virginia Community College as well as working as a licensed Washington DC Tour Guide, then I contracted Lyme Disease. This then morphed into severe MCS, then later severe EHS. My vibrant, energetic, wonderful life turned into a living nightmare, lasting 30 years to date. During all these years I have been homeless more often than not, sleeping on friend’s sofas, porches, in my car, garages, tents, etc. Financially, I have barely survived. First on welfare and food stamps, then on disability, SSI, Medicare, section 8, etc. And yet, I have not been able to afford the level of treatment I need and find adequate housing that I can tolerate. The feeling is a perpetual “hanging off the edge of a cliff.” This disease is extremely isolating because of people's inability to tolerate a “normal” environment and the lack of understanding of family, friends, medical community, and society in general. There must be an answer to this “rubix cube” of a dilemma. This is why this proposed project is so urgently and vitally important. I believe we are the “Canaries in the Coal Mines.” for the planet. More people will be affected and search here in West Virginia for answers, help and safety. Let us provide a solution for this tremendous need.