Asbestos dust inhalation accumulates in the lungs, cause inflammation, which often leads to the incurable asbestos lung cancer such as Mesothelioma. This story relates to a man from Texas who unintentionally contaminated his family with asbestos. Jim West was a typical worker in the large chemical and oil refinery plants along the gulf coast of Texas.
He was responsible for installing as well as maintaining the insulation used to cover the massive heating areas in these plants. To his ill fate, the material used for the insulation contained asbestos, and each day, he breathed the air polluted with asbestos fibers. Jim’s family recounts the white fibers filled in their father’s clothes, his car, and even in his lunch box.
His children recall that everyday when Jim came home from work, he would first hug them all and then would take off his clothes filled with the white fibers and put them for laundry. This was his daily ritual for as long as he worked in those plants.
After sudden episodes of coughs, Jim came to me for a checkup. On performing initial tests, early symptoms were similar to pneumonia. However, on more scans and chest X-rays, I discovered swelling in Jim’s lungs.
On inquiring a brief history of Jim’s work, it became evident that he had contracted mesothelioma. Jim was not able to survive for long. He died within six months of being diagnosed at the age of 56. His family was completely shattered and saddened by his early and sudden passing.
It did not end there. When Jim’s daughter Catherine was in her forties, she felt she tired easily. When she developed similar coughing spells like her father, she came to me for a detailed checkup. The initial tests showed she had tuberculosis and then pneumonia. A complicated inflammation caused us to perform surgery to remove part of her lungs.
She felt better and therefore was sent home. However, her condition worsened all of a sudden and on performing more tests, she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. I asked her if she had ever worked in or around asbestos insulation or an asbestos plant. Of course, her answer was no. Then it hit me. Catherine has had contact to asbestos when her father was working in the chemical factory and refinery plants. These asbestos had entered her lungs when she was young.
When she realized that she had contracted the same disease that had killed her father, she felt completely helpless. Now, she would suffer the same fate. This anguish turned to anger as she and her husband’s research revealed that the asbestos manufacturers were well aware of the dangers of asbestos exposure way before Jim had the white fibers on his clothing.
Although ailing from the cancer, Catherine expressed her anger in the press and urged families to come forward and fight for their legal rights. She also prompted her husband to file a lawsuit against the company. Sadly, Catherine succumbed to her illness shortly after they filed the case. Her husband though completely shattered by the sudden loss of his wife, continued to pursue the case.
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