Helen Bone fears she may not be able to see her two children grow up after receiving her mesothelioma diagnosis in 2021.
Helen started experiencing pain in her abdomen which prompted her to seek medical attention from her GP for the first time.
Helen underwent various tests and was subsequently told in August 2021, that she was suffering with incurable asbestos related cancer. Following this, Helen started chemotherapy a month later in an attempt to shrink the cancer, and has also been accepted onto a MiST (5) trial. The MiST trial is a 3 stage trial that seeks to find out whether certain drugs can treat mesothelioma that continues to grow or come back after chemotherapy.
Mesothelioma is linked to asbestos which Helen was possibly exposed to whilst at school as a child and then work at local hospitals, since she was 17, as an advanced clinical care practitioner.
Helen says “I absolutely loved my job. I studied hard and worked in my dream career – knowing I will never return to that is really hard to come to terms with.
“It is still so difficult to accept that my school, and later workplace, could have left me with this disease, despite the fact that the dangers of asbestos have been known for decades.”
She further adds: “As a mother of two teenage daughters and a younger stepdaughter, this diagnosis has been devastating. You always think of asbestos as a disease from decades ago – affecting men who worked in heavy industry – so to be diagnosed in my 30s is shocking.
“Naturally I want to see my children grow up, but now I have to come to terms with the thought that this might not happen.”
What is Asbestos and why is it dangerous?
Asbestos can be found in any industrial or residential building built or refurbished before the year 2000. It is in many of the common materials used in the building trade that you may come across and causes around 5000 deaths every year.
Asbestos is not just a problem of the past. It can be present today in any building built or refurbished before the year 2000.
When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled, they can cause serious diseases. These diseases will not affect you immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything.
Signs and symptoms of asbestos exposure
Signs of asbestos exposure usually involve the lungs because asbestos primarily causes lung diseases. Asbestos also causes diseases in other parts of the body such as the throat, stomach and colon.
The common symptoms of asbestos exposure affecting the lungs include the following:
- Shortness of breath
- Dry cough or wheezing
- Crackling sound when breathing
- Chest pain or tightness
- Respiratory complications
- Pleural effusion (accumulation of fluid in the space surrounding a lung)
- Pleural plaques
- Pleural thickening
- Asbestosis
The symptoms of asbestos exposure affecting other parts of the body include, but are not limited to:
- Abdominal swelling and distention
- Abdominal or pelvic pain
- Bowel obstruction
- Hernia
- Weight loss
- Loss of appetite
- Hoarseness
- Difficulty swallowing
- Clubbed fingers
Diseases Caused by Asbestos Exposure
Asbestos can cause some of the following fatal and serious diseases. Cancers Caused by asbestos exposure are:
Non- cancerous diseases and conditions caused by asbestos exposure can be as follows:
- Asbestosis
- Pleural plaques
- Pleural thickening
- Benign pleural effusion
- Pleuritis
- Atelectasis
Occupational exposure is the number one cause of asbestos-related diseases however these conditions can originate from secondary causes too.
If you or anyone you know has been exposed to asbestos and are experiencing the symptoms listed above, then you might be able to claim compensation. We urge you to discuss your complaints and symptoms with a medical professional and subsequently seek legal advice.
If you feel your injuries have been caused as a result of your work and wish to enquire about a potential claim for compensation, please contact us.
Further reading
Mesothelioma claims – Oakwood Solicitors
Helpful links:
Mesothelioma – Cancer Research UK
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/mesothelioma/about
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/mesothelioma/
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health/mum-devastated-after-being-diagnosed-28560317
https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/
Harmful substances (hse.gov.uk)
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Get in touch today for a no-obligation consultation. Choose one of the methods on the right-hand side of this page, or call us on 0113 200 9720 to find out how we can help you with your enquiry.
Asimah Ali is currently a Solicitor in the Industrial Disease Department.
Asimah started working at Oakwood Solicitors in October 2016, shortly after completing the Legal Practice Course in July 20…
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