Asbestos Caused Joiner’s Death from Mesothelioma

Alvaston, UK—A joiner who worked with asbestos sheets for years has died from mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer associated with this toxic building material.

Asbestos is comprised of thin, needle-like, and yet microscopic fibers that can be inhaled. They cannot, however, be exhaled or otherwise expelled from the body, because they embed themselves into the membrane that lines the inside of the thoracic and abdominal cavities, and surrounds the heart and lungs. This membrane, the mesothelium, can then develop tumors—malignant pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma—that are often non-localized and difficult to surgically resect.

David Hartley, who was only 57 when he died, had worked at the Reckitt and Coleman site during his employment with Byard and Green shop fitters. His employment as a joiner for this firm, which lasted from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, required him to cut, drill and fit asbestos sheets. Asbestos was often used as an insulating and strengthening component in a variety of construction materials and consumer products.

Joiners, engineers, plumbers, electricians, boilermakers, and mill workers are among the occupational demographics that are most at risk to develop mesothelioma and other asbestos-related conditions. Also at high risk are Navy veterans, as asbestos was widely used in the military until the late 20th Century.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer, but a deadly one. Although it may remain latent and undiagnosed in the body for up to 50 years, by the time it is diagnosed it has typically reached one of the later, and untreatable, stages. Fewer than 10 percent of patients live past the two-year mark, and the majority die within months of learning that they have the cancer.

Treatment for mesothelioma consists of surgery, if the cancer is detected early enough; chemotherapy; and radiation. Many late-stage patient choose not to pursue these treatment options, however, as they feel that the side effects are too great, and instead opt for pain management.


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Mesothelioma Claims the Life of Army Veteran

Morris, IL—A veteran of the United States Army, who likely was exposed to asbestos while serving his country, has died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma.

James R. Walton, 80, served in the Army and then went on to attend engineering school. He worked at Aurora Caterpillar Tractor Company and the Joliet Arsenal, as well as at the Morris Hospital. Walton may also have been exposed to asbestos at any point during his career, however, since the mineral material was so widely used throughout most of the 20th Century as an insulating and building material. Asbestos could be found in drywall, ceiling and floor tiles, pipe insulation, boilers, shingles, plumbing, and many other products. It was also used in automobile applications such as brakes and clutches, as well as in shipbuilding. Once prized for its lightweight nature, strength, durability and resistance to fire and high temperatures, asbestos later became notorious as a toxin and carcinogen.

Inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers can lead to the rare cancer mesothelioma, which occurs when those fibers penetrate the mesothelium—a sheath surrounding and protecting the lungs and other internal organs—and cause the cells thereof to become malignant. Striking only about 3,000 new patients each year in the United States, mesothelioma is an unusual cancer for several reasons. It may remain in the body, undetected, for anywhere from 10 to 50 years. When it is diagnosed, it has usually already reached an advanced stage, and is therefore not often treatable.

Traditional cancer treatments may be used in cases of mesothelioma that are caught earlier, before the disease has metastasized throughout the body. In some cases, surgery is possible, but that is not usually feasible. Chemotherapy and radiation are sometimes employed to attempt to shrink the tumor and stop its spread, but these are less effective for mesothelioma than they are for other cancers, and they also tend to cause painful or debilitating side effects. Many mesothelioma patients are too weak to undergo these treatments, therefore, and opt only to pursue pain management methods.

The average life expectancy for a person diagnosed with mesothelioma is only 4 to 18 months. Fewer than 10 percent live as long as two years after diagnosis.


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