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What is Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma?

Well for start it is particularly nasty. It’s also rare. It is sometimes referred to as asbestos lung cancer. But with mesothelioma, the tumour grows in the plueral cavity, the lining of the lung. It can live there for years before it decides to kill you. There is no cure for mesothelioma. It is a terminal cancer....it will kill you.

You can get the medical descriptions, of what it is, here and also here.

The cavity of the lung fills with fluid. The person becomes breathless, fighting for air. Sometimes, they feel as though they are drowning. It brings pain in waves, and like many cancers, causes extreme tiredness. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. My wife Maureen got it from her father’s clothes. He worked with the stuff. She contracted this when she was a little girl. On April 29th 2005, when she was diagnosed, she was given between 13 months and 2 years to live. She was 52. She has had chemotherapy 4 times......22 sessions and is still alive, refusing to give into the thing inside, which is waiting to kill. The chemotherapy has given her more time. It has now been 5 years since she was diagnosed. And even although the chemotherapy has taken a heavy toll, she still refuses to give in. The nurses and staff at the Beatson Kintore Unit in Falkirk are absolutely fantastic. They are the NHS at its very best.

Even the Romans had a name for asbestos. They knew the damage it could do to the human body. They called asbestos AMIANTUS.

And there is more information here, from this great group of people and supporters Clydeside Action on Asbestos