The diagnosis of Mesothelioma is such a stunner that many patients are emotionally swamped by it. This raises the question of how you should support them as the deal with the diagnosis.
Mesothelioma is a brutal form of cancer. Fortunately, it is very rare. The cancer is mostly associated with the inhalation of asbestos. This leads to the eventual growth of mutant cells, better known as cancer, in the mesothelium. The mesothelium is a organic two layer sheet like substance that lines the abdomen and chest while also surrounding and supporting organs like the heart and lungs.
The diagnosis of Mesothelioma can be a real shocker. The reason is two fold. First, it is very rare, which means most patients first question is “Meso…what?” The second is the cancer is usually the result of exposure to asbestos, but only manifests in the body after tens of years have passed. As a result, most patients have no idea of how they could have come into contact with it.
Perhaps the biggest difficulty for patients to deal with is the prognosis. Mesothelioma usually only manifests very late in the growth process. As a result, the 5 year survival rate is less than 10 percent. Understandably, this can devastate a patient.
The first step to supporting them is to make sure they understand that a certain percentage of people do survive. You can find stories online of people who have made it to inspire them. The key is to developing a fighting spirit and to be aggressive in dealing with the disease.
The second step is to watch out for your own mental health. A person with Mesothelioma is going to be tough to deal with emotionally and practically. As a result, you are going to need to take time for yourself. You should consider locating and joining support groups so you have people to talk with that are going through the same thing. This will allow you better support the person in your life suffering from the cancer.
Mesothelioma is a very tough diagnosis. Your decision to support a person with it is much appreciated. Just make sure you take care of yourself so you can take care of them.
Posts tagged ‘Victim’
The music industry was left reeling this month with the death of Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. The sixty-four year old died from mesothelioma lung cancer, a once rare form of the cancer which is becoming ever more prevalent and is associated with exposure to asbestos. McLaren’s partner, Young Kim, says that he may have been exposed to the deadly substance when he smashed a hole in his clothes shop “Sex” in the 1970′s when the dangers of asbestos were not fully recognised. Kim told The Independent on Sunday that McLaren had smashed a hole in the ceiling of the shop to make it look like a bomb had hit it.
Kim had always suspected that the shop may have posed a hidden danger, and reports that McLaren’s son Ben Westwood said his mother had told him she had seen sheets of asbestos in the building. If there had in fact been asbestos in the shop and the fibres had been released, then McLaren would have been exposed to the dangerous particles for many years as he spent a lot of time in the shop.
This is one of many deaths that occur every year from mesothelioma, a condition which unfortunately is on the increase. Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that in 1987 the number of death certificates mentioning mesothelioma was at 814, in 1997 it was 1367, and in 2007 it was 2156.
Ten years on from the ban of asbestos the reality is that many buildings still contain this hazardous substance. One of the most worrying reports is that many school buildings still contain asbestos, an in a recent report by the Asbestos Training and Consultancy Association carried out on sixteen schools in the UK it was found that none of them were meeting health and safety rules on managing the substance. Asbestos consultants have warned that more and more people who are in the teaching professions are contracting mesothelioma, but this is just the tip of the iceberg as children will be exposed to the asbestos too, creating yet more generations who will be affected by this form of lung cancer.
It is vital that asbestos is maintained and managed in a way that keeps it as safe as possible to those who may come into contact with it. Those who manage non-domestic buildings are responsible for their asbestos management, and ensuring risks are kept to an absolute minimum. Asbestos surveys should be carried out on more than one occasion, and any employees or contractors who might come into contact with an asbestos containing material should be made aware of it, by clear labeling.
The death of a celebrity figure like Malcolm McLaren from mesothelioma is a tragedy in itself, but it may go some way to generating awareness of the dangers that asbestos still presents despite the ban.
