Tragically the word mesothelioma is becoming increasingly widely known, the mere mention of it striking fear in to all of us for they know that it is associated with death. Asbestos is the reaper, mesothelioma its hand maiden.
Asbestos, the wonder product of the fifties is now recognized as an enemy of the twentieth century. A ruthless enemy which will kill more people than the war. Men, females and babies will fall victim to its prey, innocents who have at some time in their lives inhaled asbestos dust.
Most of us have been in contact with products containing asbestos in our life times. They sat in asbestos class rooms, stood beside our fathers as they cut asbestos fencing, pulled up elderly linoleum with asbestos clogged to the back of it. Visited the local tip where broken sheets of it lay open to the wind.
Records show that there's a higher number of people stricken with asbestosis and mesothelioma who have directly worked in asbestos mines, ship yards and companies making products from asbestos; however there's a massive number of people stricken, who have never worked in these industries. Their contact with asbestos, due to the dust brought home on their husband’s clothes or from the asbestos tailings placed around mine houses and town perimeters. But the tragedy does not finish there, babies innocently playing in their own back yards played amongst the asbestos tailings as babies elsewhere play in the sand. They had no way of knowing that their sand was asbestos blue. A lovely bath at the finish of the day may have removed the dust from the skin but the dust in the lungs remained and would lay dormant for plenty of years before claiming its deadly legacy.
Without warning, a healthy individual suddenly becomes short of breath, x-rays reveal liquid on the lungs and the night mare begins. Questions are asked and you answer, Yes, I was exposed to asbestos dust but I was only in the town for a few short months and that was over 40 years ago. How can this be? This is the most perplexing thing about mesothelioma. Why is there such a long time period between inhalation of asbestos dust and onset of the disease? What triggers a powerful healthy body to suddenly succumb to it? What can they do to prevent this from happening?
Blood tests are now available to decide whether mesothelioma is present in the body, before a person is aware of any signs. This is an amazing breakthrough and perhaps the first step towards curing the disease before it becomes terminal. Recently mesothelioma was cured in a mouse and attempts to give it back to the mouse were unsuccessful. This is fascinating stuff and holds a glimmer of hope for us all.
I have witnessed first hand the devastation of mesothelioma. My husband was a powerful and virile man who never had a sick day in his life. Suddenly at the age of 52 they became short of breath and was subsequently diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. They had lived in the asbestos mining town of Wittenoom in Western Australia for a few short months at the age of four. The asbestos dust they inhaled then, took forty four years to become deadly. I still find this hard to think.
Despite his prognosis of four to nine months, Brian survived for four years. They was 54 years elderly when they died.
