FACTs from a Survivor: How the FACT Act Affects Mesothelioma Victim

I was speaking with a friend of mine recently about writing, as she's writing a urban fantasy short story, and the subject of blood types came up. You see, I always remember my blood type, B Positive, because that’s how I always strive to be. Unfortunately, sometimes I fall short of my goal. Today is one of those times.
I was really happy when on March 5th, 2012 the United States Senate passed a resolution (S-389) recognizing the first week of April as Asbestos Awareness Week. Sponsored by Senator Max Baucus of (D-MT), I was finally thinking that the United States was getting on board with knowing the facts about the dangers of asbestos exposure and more awareness about the diseases caused by it, specifically mesothelioma and asbestosis.
Imagine my utter dismay when I recently found out there is another act moving through our government that is called the “Furthering Asbestos Claims Transparency Act” or FACT Act. However, the so-called transparency ONLY pertains to the victims, not the companies responsible for putting this horrible substance out there in the first place.

What Transparency?

Why does this make me angry? Right now, Congress is being lobbied by corporations to allow them to delay the court process for asbestos victims. In delaying that process, responsible companies are less likely to have to pay anything out. Plus, THEY don’t have to be transparent about anything more than they have been. It protects the companies, while harming the victims.
This Act allows companies to ask for personal information about the victim. Companies are not held to the same standard, and don’t have to give any information. It also allows defendants to have insight into other claims so they can accuse the victim of double dipping between companies’ asbestos trusts and solvent companies. This Act is very one sided, as it protects big business asbestos companies and trusts, but not the people who have been exposed to asbestos and are now sick.
Here is the kicker-- the FACT act wants to have more proof of exposure, with most victims given between a year and 8 months to live, this burden lengthens the court proceedings and diminishes the amount of claims paid out before death. Asbestos victims will have to be far too transparent with the corporations-- they will be able to ask for greater personal information, work history, exposure, and prior claim history. These corporations who have fought so hard to be identified as people and individuals with the rights of personhood are now fighting to escape the responsibilities that personhood requires. In other words, they don't want to pay the price for harming their fellow citizens.

This is Just Wrong

After everything I have been through, after all the people I have met who are now ill because of the negligence of these corporations, after my friend was just put back into the ICU because she has more CO2 in her lungs than oxygen-- these companies want our personal information and proof of exposure.
I was 36 when I was diagnosed. 36. With a 20-30 year latency period, that puts me between 6 and 16 when I was exposed. I never had a job working with asbestos, my cancer came as second hand exposure. This, sadly, is a case more often than not.
Because of asbestos, I lost not only my career, which I loved and nurtured for 15 years, I lost the entire first year of my baby’s life. She was just 3 1/2 months old when I was diagnosed. I missed her whole 6th month of life while I had my lung removed. I missed many more milestones because I was sick from the chemo and radiation. Her whole first year of life is a blur through a chemo haze and I have asbestos to thank for this.
I can no longer work at a job that I loved because of nerve damage to my left hand from my extrapleural pneumonectomy surgery. I can’t stand behind a chair for 8 hours a day doing hair, like I used to because of my diminished lung capacity and the chemicals from all the products are not the best for me to be breathing in.
When I realized what I was up against, yes, I called a mesothelioma lawyer, and it was one of the smartest things I did besides seeking out the best doctor. A legal battle is not to be taken lightly, you want the best and I hired the best. I got sick because of the greed of large companies, and I was not going to sit back idle and let nothing happen. I lost over $4 million in earned income by getting sick so young. This comes from an independent company that figures out lost income due to illness. Yes, 4 million dollars. I can never regain that money. No lawsuit will ever amount to that.
I cannot sit here and 'B Positive' just to watch companies get away with shirking their responsibilities to people who were just going to work and doing their job, or just hugging their dad after a long day at work.
Why is it that we in America will allow our corporations to skate but other countries, such as Italy, will actually hold them accountable for their actions? I recently attended a screening of the movie “DUST The Great Asbestos Trial”, an Italian documentary made because the citizens of the city of Casale, Italy who worked and lived around an asbestos cement factory were all getting sick and dying. They sued the shareholders of the company, Eternit, and the Italian court found them GUILTY of manslaughter, sentenced them to 17 years in prison and $1,000,000 in fines. Sadly, the decision is being appealed, but hopefully it will be upheld.

Let's All 'B Positive'

So, today you are getting a blog post that is not my normal style. Today you are getting the anger I feel when I see corporations buying votes in Congress and leaving those of us who have been harmed to rot by the wayside.
But then again, you’re also getting something else. You’re getting a call to action. I don't often ask you to stand up and fight, but today I am. Those of us who are fighting this horrific cancer need your help to stand up to the corporations who refuse to be held accountable.
Today, I am asking you to call, write, email, tweet and comment to your elected representatives. Tell them how you feel about the FACT Act. Go to Asbestos Cancer Victims' Rights Campaign and sign the petition to STOP the FACT Act.
You see, if corporations are going to insist on being people during election season, then they need to be held accountable for the deaths of every single one of us who contracts this horrific cancer and does not survive. They need to be held accountable for the pain and suffering all of us with this cancer feel on a daily basis. They need to be held accountable for the loss of jobs, the scarring, the fear, and the medical bills. They need to be held accountable for ALL OF IT. My wish is that these companies could witness the fear, the helplessness, and the pain of an asbestos victim and follow their journey from diagnosis, through the end. Maybe, just maybe, they will understand. I’ve lost far more friends to mesothelioma than I care to admit and it never gets easier. It gets harder and harder the more I know.
So please, if you stand up with me, I think I can move away from my anger and go back to living up to my blood type and once again 'B positive.'

Tags: Asbestos Cancer Victims' Rights Campaign, Asbestos exposure, FACT Act, Furthering Asbestos Claims Transparency Act, Mesothelioma cancer

Mesothelioma Awareness Day Recap - Be A Voice For The Victims

September happens to be one of my favorite times of the year-- not only because the weather is usually picture perfect and the leaves start turning, but every year my mom and I go to New York City for Mesothelioma Awareness Day. This was our 3rd trip and each year we love it more and more. It’s becoming a tradition for my mom and I to arrive a day early, enjoy a nice dinner and get ready for the bright and early wake up time of 4:00 am to get to the plaza of the Today Show by 5:30. We get there so early to secure a good place around the barriers to be seen by the hosts. NYC at 5 in the morning is amazing, it’s actually quiet with the occasional roar of a truck engine in the distance. By the time we are allowed onto the plaza for the taping of the show, there is a line down the block of people wanting to get noticed. All of us who were there for Mesothelioma Awareness Day were dressed in our bright yellow “Cure Meso” t-shirts and grouped together so we would be noticed when the hosts of the show came around. Strength in numbers!
The morning of September 26th is also a reunion when I get to meet up with people I‘ve met through my years volunteering with the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and the past 2 years in NYC. Its always a time for laughter and reflection. There is the noticeable absence of those we’ve lost to the disease in the last year and those we know are going through treatments and couldn’t make the trip. The seriousness of mesothelioma is not lost on us; the signs that some people had made in memory of their lost loved ones are all we need as a reminder.
During a segment of the 9:07 PM Today show, Kathie Lee and Hoda do ambush makeovers on 2 members of the audience. We happened to have one of our own chosen and they could not have chosen a better representative from our group. Marina lost her brother to mesothelioma years ago and her mother Hanne happens to be co-chair of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. Both Marina and Hanne had their bright yellow Cure Meso shirts on during the makeover and that alone got so much coverage. We were thrilled; and not to mention my friend getting a NY style makeover. To top off the morning, Al Roker talked briefly to Rich Mosca, who is also a board member of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, so we were able to let everyone know that September 26 is Mesothelioma Awareness Day.
What made the day even more exciting for me was what was going on in social media that day. “Dying To Be Heard” is a campaign we started by asking people to donate their Facebook or Twitter status for the day to “Be a Voice for the Victims”. I can’t begin to describe the feeling to look at Twitter and see all of the people posting on behalf of mesothelioma awareness. To top that off, over 100 bloggers helped spread the word for the day, reaching more people than I dreamed we could. What a blessing to know that I have that sort of network that is willing to use their voice to help spread the word about a very unknown disease. I let the feeling of that carry me through a very busy and fun filled day.
After the Today show, I did a video interview with a web magazine, which will be online soon! We also went to a taping of The Late Show with David Letterman. We ended the day with a dinner with a large group of people who were in town for Mesothelioma Awareness Day and attending the New York Mesothelioma Conference hosted by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation that was scheduled for Friday.
The people who are with the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation are some of the most down to earth and passionate people I have ever met. Every single one of them on the board have been affected by mesothelioma, by either having it or knowing a loved one who has had it. It is not just a job, it is a mission. They are truly working their hardest to find a cure and bring about awareness in so many ways. Through supporting fundraisers and funding research grants, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation is such a valuable resource for everyone affected by this disease.
Mesothelioma Awareness Day was started in 2004 as a way to get the word about this deadly disease out. This disease is about more than commercials on TV. It’s about real people, innocent people who have been devastated by the effects of what this disease does. Young or old, mesothelioma does not discriminate. Our work together will make a difference and the success of Mesothelioma Awareness Day proves just that.

Tags: Cure Meso, Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, Mesothelioma Awareness Day

5 Families 5 Stories How Mesothelioma Changed Their Lives

Many families today have members facing one of the most lethal cancers, mesothelioma. The cancer occurs due to exposure to asbestos and is the most serious of all asbestos-related diseases. Once considered rare, more and more people are now being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Asbestos can lay silent within the body for years before presenting itself as mesothelioma, and even then symptoms mimic common ailments making it very difficult to diagnose. This is one of the many reasons why the disease is so deadly. Asbestos also has the ability to spread from host to host, carried and transferred via clothing. Mesothelioma is a frightening reality and these stories tell how the disease affected the lives of patients and their families.
The Donnelly Family
The Donnelly family came face to face with mesothelioma in 2009, and may continue for many years to come. On Christmas day of that year George, his wife Pauline, and their three children received news that George’s doctor diagnosed him with the disease. 16 months later, he lost the battle with mesothelioma. The grieving family was hit hard a month later when Pauline too was diagnosed with mesothelioma. George had been exposed to asbestos while working on boats and submarines in Navy shipyards, and he brought the deadly fiber home on his clothing. Pauline unintentionally came in contact with the material simply doing the laundry. Now their three surviving children are going through tests to determine whether they were exposed to the asbestos, and know there is a real chance they too are at risk of developing mesothelioma.
Kelly Diaz De Leon’s Father
Kelly Diaz De Leon’s father and family struggled through the difficulties of diagnosing mesothelioma. Her father first knew something was wrong in November of 2009 when he developed a cough that progressed into pain and shortness of breath. Persistent doctor visits kept turning up the same answer of a common cold. This just raised more questions for the family as symptoms continued. Doctors were able to locate and remove fluid from his lungs and, at that point, Kelly knew something was wrong. Her father battled pain and surgery for ten months trying to find an answer. In October of 2010, doctors were able to solve the puzzle and diagnosed him with mesothelioma. Unwilling to quit, her father optioned for chemotherapy, but could no longer keep up with treatments. A year after first symptoms, and a constant unforgiving battle, Kelly’s father passed away.
Rebecca Arnautavic’s Father
Rebecca Arnautavic was on a family trip when the news first came; her father Mick was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. Up to the date, he battled a constant sickness that doctors wrote off as a nagging case of the flu, or chest infection. Taking his prescription, he went back to work while the cancer grew inside his body. Time passed and Mick knew things were much more serious. Sick, fatigued, and short of breath he sought more tests. Doctors were able to find the source and diagnosed Mick with mesothelioma; he was given six months to live. With his family in mind he battled the disease, but the cancer had spread to both lungs. Doctors could no longer help and after nine months, Mick passed away.
Jill Leavitt
Jill Leavitt’s father was diagnosed with mesothelioma more than 20 years since last contact with asbestos. At the age of 85, he began to develop a cough and found himself out of breath. Never a smoker, they attributed this to old age. Asbestos exposure never crossed his mind. Doctor’s X-rays were able to show fluid on his lungs. After years of lying dormant, the asbestos began to attack. He made frequent visits to the hospital for surgery to remove the fluid, two to four liters at once. Although this helped relieve the pain, this was not a cure. In an alarming amount of time, the cancer had taken over his body. From first X-rays in the spring, being diagnosed in October, Jill’s father succumbed to mesothelioma in December 2011.
Benjamin Monteiro
Straight out of high school, Benjamin Monteiro served with the United States Navy for six years working as a boiler technician where he was constantly in contact with asbestos. Just like many cases of mesothelioma, the asbestos laid dormant within his body for a long time. He was taken by surprise some 27 years later when doctors found cancer in his lung. Going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Benjamin was lucky enough to be deemed operable. Days later, doctors removed a fist size tumor from his left lung. Benjamin was able to recover from the surgery. He encourages those who have been exposed to asbestos to seek doctors before it is too late. Catching the disease early dramatically increases the odds of a successful recovery.
Mesothelioma is real. It is a silent and sudden disease that, like many cancers, takes a major toll on the lives of families. Many people, mostly unaware, have been exposed to asbestos not knowing the deadly effects it could have later on down the road. Doctors today are finding faster ways to diagnose the disease in its early stages, and better ways of treating the cancer. With symptoms that mimic common ailments, most don’t see the diagnosis coming. It is so important to seek doctors early if any of the symptoms begin to occur, or if there is a possible history of asbestos exposure. Time is the killer for mesothelioma, and if one waits on the signs, it may be too late.

Tags: Asbestos, Benjamin Monteiro, Donnelly Family, Jill Leavitt, Kelly Diaz De Leon, Mesothelioma, Rebecca Arnautavic

Mesothelioma - Is Cancer Hibernating in You?

Imagine a disease that lays eggs inside your lungs. These eggs do not produce discomfort or coughing, they don't cause outbreaks or rashes or anything of the sort. In fact these eggs don't do anything except sit in your lungs and germinate for 30 to 40 years. After this time you begin to have a slight cough, a fever, maybe some cold sweats. You write it off as the flu and continue as usual until it goes away. 3 weeks later the flu is back but this time you're coughing up blood. You visit your doctor and hope he can prescribe something to kick this crazy flu. Your doctor runs a few tests and sends you home. A week later your brought into his office and he lays the devastating news on you... you have Mesothelioma a cancer of the lungs.

This is the reality for roughly 2000 men and women residing here in the United States every year. These are people who often time have lead healthy lives. In the article, "Mesothelioma Victims - Survival Stories" Kathleen writes:

"At 42, I never thought that I would be facing a terminal illness, especially one relating to the lungs. I've never smoked and have lead a relatively healthy life. I have two beautiful daughters who will be heading to college soon - and I may not be alive to see their graduation."

The primary cause of mesothelioma cancer is linked to exposure to asbestos fibers which are breathed into the lungs or swallowed. Asbestos is a material that was used heavily for many years in hundreds of products. Asbestos was primarily used due to the fact that it is strong, resists fire and corrosion, and has very effective properties for insulation.

In modern day, asbestos has many uses such as thermal pipe and boiler insulation, floor coverings, ceiling tiles, spray-applied fire proofing and sound proofing, roofing materials and "transite" pipe and sheeting. Though major public use was discontinued in the late 70s, asbestos continues to be a material used in countries outside of the U.S., and due to the fact that we trade for many of these countries goods it is necessary that we educate ourselves as to the materials used in production of the products and items we use daily.

Many more cases of mesothelioma, due to asbestos exposure, are beginning to surface today. First, because our understanding and ability to recognize the disease has increased by leaps and bounds over the years, and second, because this particular cancer lays dormant within the carriers system for 30 to 40 years. With the widespread use of asbestos during the 20th century we are starting to see the consequences of exposure to this toxic material.

Due to the fact that asbestos was in heavy concentration in the industrial and building trades during the mid 1900s, most carriers of mesothelioma cancer are men who where working around asbestos during that time. However, mesothelioma has been reported not only in cases of direct exposure, but also indirect, such as the families of these men, as they often returned home with asbestos fibers on their clothing. Even in today's day and age where asbestos has been all but removed from our lives, it is still possible to be diagnosed with mesothelioma as cases of this cancer have been diagnosed without the presence of asbestos exposure.

It is also important to note that smokers who have been exposed to asbestos carry a far greater risk of mesothelioma. Some figures suggest as much as 3 times the percentage of a non-smoker with the same level of exposure. If you feel that you have been exposed to asbestos set an appointment with your physician to go over your chances of mesothelioma developing. The best thing a mesothelioma patient can do is to detect the presence of this disease early on, as it will increase your chances considerably.

Mesothelioma! The Cancer That Malaysians Are Not Supposed To Know?

What we are about to share with you today is something that is dead serious but amazingly nobody knew about it here in Malaysia. It is widely believed by private medical practitioners here that the Malaysian Health Ministry is covering up any news or information with regards to Mesothelioma from the knowledge of the public for some dark reasons. Our sources have confirmed that the number of Malaysians secretly diagnosed with Mesothelioma is rising and it is high time that you would take this opportunity to learn more about this unknown type of cancer.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that can be directly caused by previous and continuous exposure to asbestos. In this type of cancer, bad and malicious cells grew in numbers in the mesothelium. Mesothelium is a protective lining that protects most of our internal organs. Records have shown that Mesothelioma would normally attack the pleura, peritoneum or the pericardium.

Symptoms of Mesothelioma would not appear drastically. Once exposed to asbestos, patients would only show signs or symptoms of Mesothelioma somewhere between 20 to 50 years later which made it much easier for any irresponsible parties or governments to hide this form of cancer from the public's knowledge! Based from what we had gathered from private medical practitioners, there are a number of symptoms that you should get to know of:

Symptoms of pleural mesothelioma

Breath shortness
Coughing (normally with blood) and chest pain due to fluid accumulation in the pleural space
Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma

Weight loss and cachexia
Abdominal swelling and pain due to ascites, which is the build up of fluid in the abdominal cavity
Bowel obstruction
Blood clotting abnormalities
Anaemia
Fever
Symptoms of advanced peritoneal mesothelioma (where it would spread to other parts of the body)

Pain or having trouble in swallowing food and liquid
Swelling of the neck or face
Normally Mesothelioma would affect those who worked and lived in environments where asbestos particles, dusts and fibres are prevalent. The nightmare doesn't end there for this highly at risk group can later indirectly create secondary exposures of asbestos particles, dusts and fibres to their immediate family members once they got home from work! If you or anyone of your immediate family members are involved in the home renovation or housing and building construction industries, you should take this matter very seriously indeed! Please understand that Mesothelioma is a highly aggressive and deadly type of cancer. To date there is no immediate cure!

In Malaysia, the cases of Mesothelioma reported here are somewhat different than those outside of Malaysia. While other countries has many cases of Mesothelioma that can be directly attributed to long exposures of asbestos by those who work in the house renovation or construction industries, Malaysia meanwhile has an alarming number of cases diagnosed on patients that do not work in such high risk groups! Malaysian patients that have been secretly diagnosed with Mesothelioma are just plain ordinary people, just like you and me!

If you have been following this story closely right now, you might be wondering how that is possible. Private medical practitioners here have identified our homes as the primary suspect. It is no secret here that Malaysian homes are most often built hastily, using cheap materials and shoddy workmanship. One of the primary materials used in any construction is cement which is a type of white asbestos. Cheap and low quality cements used in construction industries do not last long especially when it is applied improperly. Cements would soon weaken, starts to flake and later become brittle, leaving you with dusts on the floor and invisible particles floating in the air. This is the big culprit that has caused many cases of Mesothelioma in Malaysia! Unfortunately, irresponsible parties with godly power have gone into extreme measures to make sure that no Malaysian would know anything about this! Are they protecting the irresponsible Malaysian housing and building contractors where most of them are linked with political parties and figures?

Now that you know what Mesothelioma is all about, spread the knowledge to friends and families as soon as possible. Make them aware that there is deadly hazard right there in our very homes. Before we go, we would like to hear your input on something. We would like to know whether you had heard of Mesothelioma before or this would be the first time that you ever heard of it. Please place your vote here.

Saidul A Shaari is the principal and founder of Sahabatul Ventures, specializing in helping aspiring home based entrepreneurs establish and setup their online businesses cost effectively. An enterprising business individual who turn half ideas into real money making opportunities.

Mesothelioma and the Asbestos Time Bomb

The one-time friend turned killer that was once such an indispensable, yet unnoticed, part of our daily lives for so many centuries, is now a feared enemy. It is Asbestos (from the Greek for 'inextinguishable') and is the reason for thousands of global compensation claims by mesothelioma lawyers against employers, manufacturers and processors of asbestos-related products. Many asbestos workers, and those unwitingly exposed to asbestos, have been given a mesothelioma diagnosis for which there is no cure, maybe just a little temporary relief, until the inevitable distressing death a few months or years after diagnosis.

Mesothelioma is a time bomb because it can be that less than a day's exposure to asbestos dust is enough to produce mesothelioma, some 30-40 years later, when mesothelioma symptoms are first noticed. Though most mesothelioma victims are men, because mainly they worked in those industries, sometimes their wives and family too are innocent sufferers from this disease, inhaling the asbestos dust shaken from their husband's/fathers' clothing, or hair, at the end of the working day.

Whether the fault lies with manufacturers & employers (assuming they knew of the dangers) or the employees (did everyone diligently use respirator equipment and protective clothing, if it was supplied?), is something for the mesothelioma lawyers, insurance companies and courts to thrash out.

Meanwhile, asbestosis & mesothelioma victims are dying a painful and inexorable death, before their cases can even come to court or a settlement is reached. As there is no cure for mesothelioma or asbestosis, all that can be done is to make the sufferer's plight as comfortable as possible, before death finally brings mercyful relief. Although various governments have introduced, albeit belatedly, anti-asbestos legislation, sufferers find that in some cases the time limit for claiming compensation is unrealistically short, given
the long time (30-40 years) before mesothelioma symptoms are first noticed. Many victims are dying before they get a court verdict, or even before they get to court. Unlike its Greek derivation, Mesothelioma and asbestosis victims are not inextinguishable.

What is Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer in the fluid-filled sac between the Mesothelium lining the lungs, or abdominal cavity or heart, and the body. In a healthy person, the mesothelium secretes a fluid which lubricates these organs, allowing them to expand, contract and easily slide over neighbouring tissues. Fluid in excess of that required for lubrication is removed through the blood & lymph system. In a person with Mesothelioma, the asbestos fibres penetrate the organ, into the fluid sac, producing cancerous cells which attack other cells, thickening the fluid, causing pain, and difficulty with breathing. Peritoneal Mesothelioma and, less commonly, Pericardial Mesothelioma, are not as common as the pleural type, but just as deadly.

The Causes of Pleural Mesothelioma

Pleural Mesothelioma, the most common form of mesiothelioma, is caused, according to all known evidence, exclusively by inhalation of asbestos fibres. These fibres are very thin & sharp enough to penetrate the lining of the lung, entering the plural sac, thereby damaging the mesothelium cells. Often, cancerous growth results, as described above. Other factors also come into play, including the changes induced in macrophages by their ingestion of asbestos particles. The asbestos seems to stimulate the macrophage to produce free radicals, which then affect DNA to induce cancerous cell behaviour. The chances of a person in an asbestos-related environment developing lung cancer, are said to be about 50 times increased if that person smokes, though there is no evidence to show that smoking itself causes mesothelioma. Ironically, one brand of cigarettes in the 1950's used asbestos in the filter tips.

There are other factors too that can play a part, such as heredity, general health and diet. Although not too much has been clincially proven about these factors, as with all diseases, the better the person's health the better their chances of not catching a disease.

The History of Asbestos.
It is probably not generally known that asbestos has been around since 4000 BC, when it was used in lamp wicks and candles. Interestingly, it was also used in the cloth wrapping of Egyptian mummies. Maybe this is the real origin of 'The Curse of The Mummy' stories; grave robbers, and maybe Egyptologists, could expect to get their just desserts! Clothing made from asbestos was highly prized in ancient times to wrap the bodies of Kings, so that their ashes would not mix with the earth or other contaminants during cremation, and it is said the Romans simply threw their asbestos napkins into a fire to cleanse and purify them.

Asbestos, a type of silica, is mined from three main types of metamorphic rock:- Chrysotile (white asbestos), Amosite (brown asbestos) and Crocodilite (blue asbestos). Other asbestos bearing rocks such as Tremolite, Anthophyllite and Actinolite are not in such common use but could still be found in some construction work, talcum powders and vermiculite. During the Middle Ages there does not appear to be much evidence of asbestos use; they probably had other problems, like recurring plagues and crusades, to contend with.

The fact that asbestos workers developed respiratory illnesses, and died young, was known as far back as Roman times when Pliny the Elder commented that asbestos workers seemed to have many health problems, advising against buying asbestos-workings slaves as they "died young". Obviously, there were no mesothelioma lawyers around then! The deleterious effects of asbestos, in modern industrial times, have been recorded as far back as the start of the 18th Century but little notice was paid by factory owners & Governments to the plight of asbestos workers - labour was cheap and life even cheaper; nothing should stand in the way of the sacred cows of Industrial Progress and the profits of industrialists and politicians.

That it took until the 1970s before more stricter legislation to restrict its use and safeguarded workers was drawn up, is scandalous. A charitable reason for this inertia may be that asbestos had become so widely used in almost every aspect of our everyday lives, delivering such tremendous benefits, that there was such a reluctance to finally admit that something so useful could also be so deadly. People who have expounded the virtues, and made a lot of money out of, asbestos are hardly likely to suddenly throw up their hands and admit to being wrong. The alternative, less charitable, explanation can only be that greed and profit were more important than employees' health.

Deja vu!

There are many ex-asbestos industry workers who are living time bombs, not knowing if the deadly fibres have affected their health. As employers & governments have reluctantly been forced to legislate to compensate workers with Mesothelioma, there needs to be greater awareness of sufferers plight.

Pleural Mesothelioma and Black Lung Disease Prognosis

The prognosis of Pleural Mesothelioma is determined with not one but several factors. The detection of cancer at the early stage usually leads to a favourable prognosis and can have a vast impact on the expectancy of the patient. Mesothelioma, like other forms of cancer, tends to have seriously limited choices of treatment when diagnosed at a later stage and prognosis is even compromised most of the time. 

Black lung disease is literally making the miners' lungs black and obtained from constant inhalation of coal dust. The effects of black lung disease are long term and can even cause death. Its reaction to accumulated dust can appear and even worsen during your exposure or even after the inhalation.

Factors

The general health condition of the patient is the most significant factor that influences the prognosis. Mesothelioma diagnosed at an early stage will be able to go through the treatments easier than those who are older, and those with existing conditions. According to studies, persons aged older than 55 are at a higher risk and are more likely to occur to men than women.

The next consideration would be the extent of the metastasis. If the cancer has not yet metastasized to other parts of the body, patient are likely to have several treatment options that will help increase the person's prognosis. Poor prognosis are likely to be in patients that are experiencing difficulty in breathing, having chest pains, cannot carry out daily tasks, weight loss and high level of LDH (lactate dehydrogenase). These are usually indications that the cancer is already on its later stages. 

Prognosis for patients who exhibits these symptoms is usually present from six to twelve months. However, persons who are not having these signs will normally have more than a year.

Ways That May Help Improve Prognosis

Stage I patients with Pleural Mesothelioma can opt for a surgery called extrapleural pneumonectomy. This surgery is only offered to patients that are generally in good health. The surgery will remove the affected lung and the lining of the wall of the chest, pericardium and diaphragm. This approach is highly recommended for patients affected with epithelioid cell plerual mesothelioma.

For those patients on the latter stages with black lung disease, an attempt for pleuroctomy can be performed to help increase prognosis. This medical treatment relieves the pain without having to cure the cause of the suffering since it will control the buildup of fluids in the mesothelium or sac. This does not cure, but it can take the pain away and any pressure on the lung.

Survival Rate

As in other lung diseases, the back lung disease is also bleak and narrow. After the diagnosis, there are cancer patients who live for five years or even more. This is called the five-year-survival rate, and the survival rate for this is about 10%. We still need to find out if there's more since these figures come from five years ago. Since treatment and technology have been continually improving, there are chances to improve the survival rate for patients with Mesothelioma and black lung disease.

There are more compelling stories about survivors that are living, and they are willing to tell their stories. This provides hope for other patients under treatment process. Since prognosis may differ depending on cell types, any patient can always hope for a different and longer life expectancy.