The Horrowing Story of the Family that Saved Themselves from the Dangerous Electromagnetic Radiation

Threaten but do not punish

By Roman Litovsky

April 8, 2026

         My name is Rachel, and tonight I am slowly driving down the Mass Pike, which is covered with patchy ice and remnants of salt and sand sprayed after the last big snowfall. I work downtown at a tax accounting office, and I have the usual fun of a traffic jam on my way home almost every night. I keep a safe distance from the car in front and am on mental autopilot: the road is familiar, and the routine is so habitual that it requires almost no mental effort—my mind is drifting along its normal path, recalling the events of the day, replaying conversations with colleagues, and pondering my family chores and problems.

         Tonight, my most troubling thought concerns my daughter Mira. She is in kindergarten and plans to start school next year, but her health has recently declined. She grew pale, lost her once-remarkable appetite, and her boundless energy and spirit disappeared, gradually replaced by a passive, laid-back attitude. She can't concentrate on any specific task, and even her teacher has noticed these changes. These symptoms have been developing slowly over the past three months since we moved to a new rental apartment in Waltham, right on the border with Newton, on the banks of the Charles River.

         This apartment was a step up from the place my husband Mark and I rented in Brighton before. It is a nice suburban area, close to great riverfront pedestrian trails, with plenty of stores, and still near the city, which I needed for employment. We couldn't rent the unit overlooking the Charles River; they were all already taken. Our apartment faces north, right onto the Waltham side, but I always say, "I don't plan on staring into the window; I would rather go for a walk."

         But despite our inspiration and uplifted mood, I don't feel truly at home in our new dwelling: something keeps me tense, preventing me from relaxing. I feel this especially at night, when my sleep becomes shallow, and I am very sensitive to any disruptions, as if I’m always on guard, even though the perceived danger and reasons for such alertness are invisible. Like Mira, I feel tired almost all the time, and the very thought that something may happen to my daughter throws me into panic that I don't know how to control.  Unlike me, Mark sleeps soundly and can't understand why I am restless—from his point of view, everything is fine, our family is doing great, and there is no reason to worry.

         Mira was initially upset about changing her habitat because some of her neighbor friends were left behind. However, children are flexible, and she quickly made new friends. The house where we now live has more than a hundred apartments. She didn't have to change her kindergarten, which is the best part for her. She is a bright girl who learns the rules quickly, finds good kids to play with, and knows how to please her teachers. One girl is her best friend: they do everything together, play outside, and share secrets. But when coming home, Mira slows down, and even taking her for a walk in the woods along the river requires a lot of effort and negotiation from my side. Last night, something did happen to Mira - after supper, when we both sat on the sofa playing our favorite Monopoly game, she bent down, and her nose started bleeding, just out of the blue!  That was the last drop, telling me that I have to do something.

         By the time I got home, I was already set on taking Mira to see the doctor, just to be safe. Mark also agreed, since his beloved princess had recently lost her lively spirit, and all his efforts to cheer her up had failed. We took Mira to see our family PCP, who examined Mira and ordered the routine bloodwork. For a few days over the weekend, life seemed to return to normal, but on Monday, my phone rang. The doctor's assistant said, "Please, come to our office, we've got the test results for Mira. "When Mark, Mira, and I

arrived at the doctor's office and stepped into the room; we immediately sensed that the doctor looked noticeably uneasy but pretended to be cheerful and in control.  "All Mira's tests are mostly normal," said she. "There is nothing to worry about. I think that Mira's symptoms are caused by changes in her living environment.  It will settle in time." I am typically a very compliant person, but this time I was adamant: "I have been observing my daughter for the last few months, and I still believe that something is wrong."  I expected the PCP to argue with me, but to my surprise, she readily agreed and said she would refer Mira to the children's hospital for further investigation.

         All the way home, I was deep in thought, staring at one spot while Mark drove, trying to fill the silence with some meaningful, rational thinking. "Well, maybe she is right, it is all due to the change in environment.  Maybe we should take a week off and go somewhere closer to nature to unwind. Mira was hugging me and kissing my cheek, trying to soothe my mood. She didn't understand the commotion, and that was her best protection.

         Getting home, I first called my dad: "I took Mira to the doctor. She doesn't seem to be OK, but they found nothing wrong; they don't know why she is fatigued and in a bad mood. They would refer her to the children's hospital." My dad said, "Many years ago, I was diagnosed with leukemia, and it took a long time for doctors to find the cause of it." I asked, "How did you get it?" Dad replied that he was an RF technician in the Army and, as such, had to work on powerful RF radar antennas. Techs were young, reckless, and thought of themselves as invincible, so they often repaired and tuned the antennas without shutting them down by turning off the high voltage. They even enjoyed feeling the heat from the microwave beam; it felt good in the chilly, windy winter cold. As a result, he's got leukemia with an abnormally high white blood cell count. But magically, it hadn't killed him! Once in a while, some new doctor would look at his blood test, make a sour face, and say that my dad might die soon. But so far, all of them were wrong.  

In the end, he said, "Electromagnetic radiation is an invisible enemy. At high levels, it may kill or cause significant bodily harm, but at lower levels, it still can do many bad things to you, some of which are very difficult to identify. Get yourself an RF field meter and check around you, maybe you are getting too much from all your cellphones and Wi-Fi gadgets." My dad was a retired engineer, and for him, the only real stuff was the one he could touch with his fingers or, at least, measure.          

That night, Mark and I barely slept: I was searching the Internet for causes, diagnostics, and treatment of medical conditions related to Mira's, while Mark searched for a good RF field meter.  He quickly found dozens of models priced from $30 to nearly $1,000. We didn't want to buy a cheap model made in China, inaccurate and designed to impress users with blinking lights and beeping sounds rather than offer true measurements, but at the same time, we didn't want to overspend on features we didn't really need. Also, I could barely understand all the engineering jargon and the many different meter parameters, so we decided to use three criteria for our search: (1) the instrument must be calibrated and made in the USA, (2) the price should be moderate, and (3) simplicity is key. Eventually, one of the search results was the RF Guard® Pro field meter. The key point was that it displayed the results as percentages relative to some official standard level. As an accountant, I know very well what a percentage means, and that gave me the confidence to make sense of my measurements. A reading of 100% or higher indicated unsafe, potentially dangerous levels, 0.01% means completely safe, and 1% is somewhere in between. That was straightforward and felt right! 

A few days later, on my way to take Mira to kindergarten, I received a device in the mail and brought it with me. The device was tiny, smaller than a pack of cards, and did exactly what it advertised—showed how much electromagnetic radiation was at a specific location. By then, I already knew that radiation came from

many sources: inside, from cellphones, Wi-Fi routers, cameras, baby monitors, microwave ovens, laptops, and wireless headsets; and outside, from cellphone towers and telecommunication antennas. 

         In the corner of the kindergarten playground, there was a pole that looked like a streetlight pole, except that at its top there was a grey cylinder. Mark earlier noticed that it was part of the new network of 5G cellphone antennas that the telecom industry has been installing everywhere—right in front of houses, schools, and kindergarten yards, in churches, and behind store signs. I asked the kindergarten manager if that cellphone antenna was safe. "Of course, it is totally safe!" was her reply. But what she didn't say was how many thousands of dollars this telecom company paid the kindergarten for the privilege of using their space for the antenna. As we know, money does not smell.

         I looked at my RF meter. It showed very little radiation, and I let out a quick sigh of relief, thinking, "Maybe the levels are really low." Suddenly, another mom passed by, talking on her cellphone, and my device reading spiked. It wasn’t the cellphone radiation; it was from the 5G smart antenna. These antennas radiate only when active communication is occurring, and they transmit signals toward the connected cellphone. That might sound safe, but if kids on the playground are near the antenna and the person on the call is far away in the same direction, the kids could be exposed to radiation even if they aren’t involved in the call. For young kids on the playground, that was a dangerous environment.

         I went home, and with Mark, we started testing all the electronic devices in the house one after another, trying to prove or disprove my dad's hunch. As we expected, we quickly confirmed high radiation levels coming from our cellphones, Wi-Fi router, and even the wireless doorbell and camera. That did not ease our concerns—Mira didn't have a cellphone, and her use of the iPad was minimal. The router was sitting in the corner of Mark's office, far from Mira's play area. We kept searching, and the real surprise was in our bedroom: the electromagnetic radiation level was extremely high. This made it very dangerous for long-term exposure, especially since we spend at least eight hours daily in our bedroom. The same situation was present in Mira's room, where the readings in Average mode were about 2-4% and in Peak mode, at 20-30%. The equivalent readings in the first-floor apartment facing the river were 0.02% and 0.2%. I was stunned. 

         For almost three months, we have been living in this apartment where our bodies were exposed to radiation day and night, causing minor but ongoing damage. I remembered my dad's story, and now, everything suddenly started making sense: my insomnia, Mira's apathy, and perhaps something even worse. I wanted to cry! How could anyone place an apartment building in such a dangerous location? 

         But where does this radiation come from? Now, when we had an RF field meter, we found an answer in minutes: it came from the building across the street, directly in front of our windows. This was a rental storage place: the entire wall facing our apartment building was covered with rectangular RF antennas, resembling shoeboxes. The building's walls were made of red brick, and all the antennas were painted or covered with a painted film that matched the brick perfectly. From the street, and even from our windows, it was very hard to spot these camouflaged antennas. Furthermore, because these antennas were elevated to the level of the third or fourth floor, their beams missed the street but irradiated the windows of the apartment building in front—especially the third and fourth floors where our apartment was located. I asked Mark, "Who allowed putting all these antennas in front of the apartment house? That must have been illegal, right?" Mark immediately figured out the answer: "It was the other way around. Long ago, there was a storage building; then they installed antennas and probably had them certified for RF safety. Later, they built an apartment complex right in front of it.” He was right: the storage building was at least thirty years

old, and the apartment complex was built only a few years ago. So, what do we do? Well, first, we need to stop this damaging radiation from reaching us, and then find out what is going on with Mira. 

         That was a plan, and I must say—a doable one. Mark found that nowadays many companies make RF radiation-blocking products: transparent films that can be stuck to window glass, and thin, almost transparent curtains made of metalized nylon or nylon-coated wire mesh that feel soft and look almost identical to the old-fashioned ones our grandmothers loved. I bought them, and soon Mark and I applied the film to the windows and installed the curtains to cover the entire front wall of windows facing the street, where the radiation was coming from. We didn't have curtain bars since this apartment wasn't ours, so Mark simply taped the curtains to the wall and ceiling. That was it. Now it was the moment of truth: would they really protect us from the RF radiation coming through the glass-and-concrete wall of our apartment? I turned on the RF field meter— the reading dropped fiftyfold! Such a huge reduction surprised me —it was remarkable—we reduced the radiation to a practically safe level. Now we could focus on Mira's medical problem.

         In a week, we managed to get an unusually quick appointment with the specialist at the children's hospital, and within the next few weeks, they performed multiple outpatient tests to evaluate Mira's condition. Finally, the day arrived when we were sitting again in the medical office, and our hearts were trembling. He started: "Mom, I have one very good piece of news and another that is actually not too bad." "Your daughter doesn't have thyroid issues, inflammatory arthritis, or iron deficiencies, at least not now. These are the factors that we ruled out as possible causes of her condition. Yes, Mira is a little anemic, and her symptoms seem to be real, but we cannot find the cause."

         Mark told me later that my face turned white, then I jerked as if from an electric shock and screamed: "So, she doesn't have cancer?" The doctor said, "I think, no cancer. But the cause of her present condition is a mystery that requires further, more detailed exploration." Mark suggested, "May I propose one possibility?"  The doctor nodded. "Mira's health problems might be because we live in a rental apartment right in front of RF radiating antennas across the street, and according to modern science, this could cause all kinds of health issues, including those Mira is experiencing." The doctor's face grew tense. He nervously fidgeted in his chair, adjusted his glasses, and said: "This sounds very unlikely, don't you think?" I couldn't stay silent any longer and jumped right in: "Just the opposite; we measured! We have a device to measure RF radiation levels in our apartment, and the level is at least one hundred times higher than normal."

         I understood the doctor's dilemma. He was an expert in kids’ medicine and lived in the same modern world as we did. He knew that electromagnetic radiation was dangerous and could, in some cases, cause all kinds of problems, including cancer. However, his experience with man-made electromagnetic radiation was minimal. Additionally, his hospital protocols offered no guidance. He paused and said, "Yes, I know that in the EU they classified electromagnetic radiation as 'Possibly carcinogenic to humans,' but here in the USA, they are still debating it." Then he added, "Let's do two things in parallel: we will start Mira's treatment to address her small anemia and boost her immune system, and you will do whatever is necessary to reduce her exposure to any harmful elements, including RF electromagnetic radiation." Does that make sense? I immediately realized that was the most he could do for Mira—the rest was in our hands.

         We went home, and I didn't know how to feel: just to be happy that Mira had no cancer or also to be upset because the doctors were clueless about what was happening with her. "What should we do?" I asked Mark. That was mostly a rhetorical question because deep down I already knew the answer. "Get out of here as soon as possible!" said my husband, and for the first time in many weeks, he smiled. "Why are you smiling?

We have a contract to pay our rent for many months ahead! - "Because now I know exactly what to do," he said, and like him, after many weeks of crippling tension inside, I felt a deep relief: We had to find a new apartment—the one where we would not be irradiated 24/7. That night, I slept like a baby—deep, fully relaxing sleep, the first in many months of living here. Was it because of the absence of RF radiation, or was it just the mental relaxation from knowing we now had a clear path to fight the invisible enemy? 

         The next day I woke up late, and my first thought was: "Why should we move? Can't we just somehow shut down these antennas, radiating our house?  If they are illegal now, maybe we can petition the city authorities to move these antennas to a place where they will be safe for the public?  I shared my thoughts with Mark, who went online to see the map of all registered transmitting antennas in Waltham.  That was really cool: you type the address or click the icon on the map, and you can immediately see what this antenna is doing, its power, the owner's name, even the height of the antenna mast.  We closely looked at the map where we knew for sure this antenna cluster was located, and found NOTHING!  The antenna irradiating our apartment building was not listed among the registered antennas.  That was really strange, but even more proof that it was not supposed to be there.

         Now we had a dilemma: get involved in a public fight, hoping someday to find justice and get rid of this health hazard, or just keep working on our move and leave behind this apartment and all the Madrid court secrets related to this antenna cluster and its legality.  I asked Mark: "What about other cases when such antennas were installed near children, in schools and other public places, do you know anything?" Mark said:" I have been waiting for your question for some time, but did not want to bother you prematurely!  Yes, we are not alone.  There have been many cases in other cities in the USA, when cellphone operators installed antennas right in the school yards, and, unfortunately, the outcomes sometimes were far more tragic." And he pulled out the folder with clippings from multiple reports.

Look here, said Mark, showing me the paper: Weston Elementary School in Ripon, CA. Sprint installed a cellphone tower overlooking the school, paying the school $ 2,000 a month. That was the cost of the students' and staff's health. Between 2016 and 2019, four young students developed a rare type of cancer, and three school staff members also got cancer. There was a huge public outcry from parents with serious concerns about their kids' health and safety. Tower operators defended themselves by claiming that electromagnetic radiation levels were within official RF safety limits. Independent testing, initiated by the parents, found that the levels were much higher than originally claimed but still within the allowed limits. This only confirmed the well-known fact that the official RF safety limits in the USA are outdated and do not protect the population from health damage caused by communication cellphone towers. Finally, in 2019, when a group of 200 angry parents stormed the school board meeting, the school retreated, and the tower was removed.

Also, Mark showed me the case of Warren Hills Elementary School in Liberty, Kansas. After the installation of a cellphone tower near the school building in 2020, six teachers were diagnosed with breast cancer over the years. Recently, one of them, a beloved teacher, died, and another was also diagnosed with cancer. Again, school officials, together with the tower operator, relying on outdated RF safety limits, claimed that the tower was safe. Multiple parents' requests to transfer their children to other public schools were denied. According to 2025 reports, this antenna was still active and may still be active now. That was the pattern: across the USA and, in fact, worldwide, the telecommunication industry kept deploying cellphone towers right in the middle of human clusters, disregarding common sense and focusing solely on business interests. Governments, caught between common sense and the demands of the industry and business community, did nothing.

Well, as a parent, I had a duty to save my family first.  So, my task from now on is to move into a safer place.  I clearly realized that a place that is safe today may become unsafe tomorrow, when another 5G tower pops up.  But let's address our life problems as they arise. It took us a record three weeks searching for a new apartment in the same neighborhood - we found it and moved quickly without regret. Of course, we lost some money, but our health was far more important. The new apartment was in a much smaller two-family house; we rented the first-floor unit in a better town — Newton — which might offer Mira an even better school. The levels of electromagnetic radiation were very low; we bought two more meters and checked for AC magnetic fields and ionizing gamma rays - yes, in the modern world, filled with all kinds of hazards, someone should stay vigilant and have many "eyes" so as not to become a health statistic. At the same time, we developed a plan B, where I made an agreement with my boss to fully switch to working from home, which allowed us to take Mira out of kindergarten and avoid school by homeschooling - a much better option to protect my daughter's health and provide her with a better, customized education tailored to her needs and abilities.

         We've been visiting the hospital once a month to monitor Mira's progress, and finally, it happened! In three months, her anemia disappeared, and we got our joyful, beloved princess back. The doctor, who initially said that radiation causing sickening was unlikely, acted as if we hadn't had that conversation, claiming Mira's progress was simply the result of his treatment. I didn't argue—let him believe what he wants: Mira's improved health is our greatest reward. 

         I felt much better, too! I started jogging along the Charles River, and every time I passed the building that almost destroyed our life, I sped up, leaving it behind like last year's snow—to melt and forget.  I can't imagine what might have happened if my dad hadn't told me about electromagnetic radiation, shared his experience, and we hadn't checked it around us with an RF field meter. Doctors probably would have harmed Mira's health with toxic medications, trying to stop damage that would still be caused daily by RF radiation. In our case, the levels were much lower than my dad's, but that actually made the situation even more mysterious: over time, the damage would have accumulated, and by the time everything became clear, it would be too late.

         We were fortunate: we took decisive action and moved our family away from harmful radiation. That was not the case for these poor kids and teachers who were stuck in these schools, unable or unwilling to take the risk and move without solid proof of the real danger. But when some of them finally received this proof, it was too late - their lives had already been ruined. Thank you, all mighty, for the lesson. I remember a traditional Jewish saying my grandmother used to say when family members recovered after some trouble: "Threaten but do not punish!"  

Note from the author:

This story is based on real events. All characters are fictional. Pictures are generated by Gemini. The purpose of the story is to educate, entertain, and raise awareness about electromagnetic radiation in today’s world.

RF Guard® Pro is a registered trademark of EMC Test Design, LLC.