The Years Ahead

If you listened last season, you may remember Virginia Crawford and her foster son, Namiko.

Virginia's been a foster mother for nearly 20 years.

Namiko came into her home when he was just a month old.

She lives about 10 minutes from the biolab plant.

A few days after the fire, Virginia was so worried about his breathing that she took him to the ER.

So I took him to the emergency room at Arthur Blank's hospital.

And after checking him, they decided, you know, his breathing level had went too low.

So they put him...

So they hooked him up to bring his oxygen level back up.

And so he was there like four days and three nights.

And he struggled the whole time he was there.

Namiko spent days in the hospital.

He was ultimately diagnosed with RSV, a respiratory virus, and once his oxygen levels stabilized, he was able to go home.

Virginia says the doctor who treated Namiko in the hospital told her his breathing issues were not related to the fire.

Most of the people I talk to who worry Biolab has affected their health have been told by doctors that's unlikely.

But when I talked to Virginia last year, she still had doubts.

What do you worry about? You know, are they going to, as they get older, will they continue to have the problem of breathing and it turn into cancer? You know, we don't, we just don't know.

But it doesn't seem like anyone cares.

Now, Namiko is two.

Virginia is still asking what his health could look like years from now and what influence breathing the Biolab plume could have on it.

And that question has become part of a much bigger legal fight.