I'm also one of those kids. I've been extremely fortunate though in the great, grand scheme of things. The health is starting to fade a little bit now, but it's not serious yet and I can't blame it on anything but aging, genes, and perhaps also my own smoking habits when I was younger. Blame is easy to toss around. Accepting the hand God dealt you and taking responsibility for your mistakes is a lot harder.
And now for my soapbox cheer: BRING BACK ORION!!! It'd only expose people to one rad or so at most during the testing and launching phases. Well worth the risk, imho.
Thanks for your sympathy, Lib - he's fine, though, don't worry. He quit smoking with any regularity about 15-20 years ago, and had about a third of his left lung removed maybe five years ago. He's in reasonably good health overall, aside from the lingering effects of Lyme disease that the State of Kansas vehemently denies he could have gotten there.