‘Return of Navajo Boy’ elder recovering

Elsie Begay, one of the original people in the 1950s film "Navajo Boy" and the latest version of the film "The Return of Navajo Boy", sits at a screening of the film on Tuesday in Window Rock. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Elsie Mae Cly Begay, an elder and central figure in the documentary “The Return of Navajo Boy” is back at home in Monument Valley this week recovering from thyroid surgery.

Begay, 68, had her thyroid removed June 16 at a Utah hospital upon the recommendation of doctors after she noticed increased swelling.

Jeff Spitz of Chicago, co-producer of the film with Bennie Klain, a member of the Navajo Nation, said Begay went to the clinic at Monument Valley and was referred for surgery.

“They told her they were removing it because she was at a very high risk of cancer,” Spitz said.
This unlikely spokeswoman — a very determined Navajo grandma — has helped build a groundswell of interest in the health impacts of uranium contamination.

“Reporters, U.S. EPA officials, Navajo Nation officials, congressmen and even Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) have all met Elsie and learned from her unique history in pictures and from her own voice more than they could ever have known from reading a scientific report,” Spitz said.

In 1978 following her divorce, Begay and her children moved into a hogan in Monument Valley where they lived for about three years. During filming of the documentary, Spitz became concerned about potential health hazards associated with the hogan, which was made of radioactive material.

Fortunately, Begay was living in a house about 30 feet away by the time U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tested the hogan for radiation in January 2000. Nine months later she received a letter from EPA stating that radiation levels in the hogan far exceeded EPA cleanup levels.

Begay consulted Doug Brugge, Ph.D., M.S., who advised her that living in the hogan “would result in an exposure that is about 44 times larger than is considered acceptable” by EPA or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

According to the information she provided him, children played on the floor and occupants slept either on mattresses directly on the floor or on carpets.

“All these scenarios mean that heads, bodies and reproductive organs rested for lengthy periods directly on the source of radiation,” he said.Begay was in good spirits when she spoke with the Independent a week before her surgery. “ I looked at the mirror and there was a little bit swollen. I told one of the nurses at Kayenta that there was something wrong. She was the one that was saying maybe I got that (thyroid), but I didn’t go back. It was maybe two or three years ago.

“When I went to Monument Valley clinic, I told the doctor lady that I got some kind of swelling here.” A test was conducted, though she wasn’t sure what kind, “and then they saw something. She’s the one that sent me to Provo. That was last month. They said they saw something. They didn’t say what it is,” Begay said.

Begay has lived around the uranium mines most of her life, and also lives in an area which was a hot spot during above-ground atomic testing. “Right now, I’m at Monument Valley where the mine was on top of where I live.”

Just before leaving for Utah, Begay said she had several visitors, some from Washington and some from Window Rock, regarding the radioactive waste pile near her home.

“They talked to me for awhile and they just give me a big hat for the summer, a straw hat, and a little bit of water to drink. They said they were going to walk with me to where to waste is. They went a little ways and they were standing near but they didn’t go all the way to where the waste is. They were talking about getting some money for that cleanup,” she said.