Mesothelioma Victims: How Children and Wives Became Sufferers
Article by Ademola Ayokanmi
As deadly as mesothelioma is on the life of whoever affected so also it continued to torment the children and wives victims of mesothelioma left behind, after they long gone to their graves. Many patients of mesothelioma unknowing also exposed their loved ones to cancer inducing asbestos dust and fibres through the settlements of those substances on their clothing which they take home every night from their workplaces.One case in point is that of a woman who got mesothelioma as a result of taking care of her husband laundry needs. At the age of 42years Kathleen, a housewife was diagnosed of mesothelioma as a result of her exposure to asbestos from her laundering of her husband clothing who worked as a carpenter everyday at his place of work. She complained of shortness breath, chest pains and she went to the hospital. After many test and diagnosis, she was confirmed a mesothelioma sufferer. She was devastated by that medical revelation. How will she cope with paying for her treatment, and maternal responsibilities to her children to be precise, more so the prospect of paying her huge medical expenses coupled with the footing of her two daughters’ school bills. The burden of Kathleen medical condition was too heavy for Kathleen and her family to bear. The more harrowing part of her story was that she did not contract the disease as a result of her reckless lifestyle. She never smoked when she was young. That was how Kathleen started out on long difficult journey into her mesothelioma treatment. Other victims of asbestos exposure are children of mesothelioma sufferers who got the disease as a result of helping their mother with the laundry of their fathers clothing. One of such people is Jane. Jane a housewife became a mesothelioma victim because her father worked as an asbestos installer in a shipyard, installing asbestos insulation. Jane’s father came home every evening with asbestos dust all over him and Jane with other siblings ignorantly played with their father’s clothes in the damper. This daily exposure to asbestos made everybody mesothelioma sufferers as a result of asbestos dust inhaled. After 27 years of working in an environment full of asbestos dust and no effort was made by his father’s employer to provide respirators that will protect the workers’ lungs even though the risks of asbestos was becoming known to everyone working in asbestos related environment. According to Jane, no shower or locker room was provided which would have reduced the risks and hazards pose to human health in these workplaces. Her father died in 1971 of mesothelioma related illness.Jane’s eventful journey into mesothelioma problems began one day. She was busy with her household cores when mesothelioma symptoms suddenly struck her. She had problem breathing and she went to the hospital for treatment. She was first diagnosed of pneumonia but further tests and chest x-ray revealed that she has malignant mesothelioma. Jane became worried about her younger brothers and sisters whom health conditions. A nine and half hours surgery was later carried out on her to remove her left lung and from that surgery she was positively diagnosed with malignant diffuse mesothelioma. After she was diagnosed of mesothelioma and she realized how she got the disease. Another unfortunate story is that of a woman who also got asbestos exposure through the laundering of her husband clothing. She was diagnosis after her husband who was confirmed mesothelioma sufferer fifteen years was treated for the disease. The housewife unlike her husband, who survives the treatment, died a month after she was diagnosed of mesothelioma.
About the Author
presently a senior programmes officer and lifestyle counselor with Welfarewatch International(WI). He has written many books and made many live presentations on issues bothering on social health and welfare.Visit http://www.mesotheliomaaffairs.blogspot.com for other insightful articles written by him on mesothelioma.