Mesothelioma Patient Stories

Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.

Admiral Zumwalt was the youngest Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in history when he took this post in 1970 at the age of 49. He was well known for his efforts to transform the Navy from an aristocratic organization to an egalitarian institution.

During Admiral Zumwalt's tenure as CNO, asbestos-related deaths of shipyard workers escalated dramatically. According to the Sinai School of Medicine in New York, asbestos related deaths, either from asbestos or mesothelioma, grew by 47%, from approximately 1,650 to 2,420 per year. From 1970 to 1979, it is estimated that more than 20,000 tradesmen died of asbestos exposure. And many more became debilitated and were forced to stop working and take disability or early retirement.

Zumwalt himself was exposed to asbestos on many different occasions. He had served on many vessels that contained asbestos insulation. Also, he had been stationed at the Pentagon during renovation that may have stirred up asbestos dust. This would ultimately lead to him contracting mesothelioma.

In an ironic twist, Admiral Zumwalt had campaigned within the Navy to ban the use of environmentally unfriendly chemical agents and became a staunch advocate of new measures to protect the environmental safety of Navy men and women. Much of his fervor derived from his son's untimely death, from cancer, at age 42. His son commanded a river boat in a part of Vietnam where Agent Orange had been used to defoliate vegetation. Admiral Zumalt had given the command to use the defoliant while he was commander of Navy operations in Vietnam. He was convinced that his son's cancer was a result of exposure to Agent Orange.

Admiral Zumwalt had watched a virtual epidemic of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases occur on his watch as CNO. He was taking steps to try to protect Navy personnel from future environmental hazards. His statements in the congressional record are paraphrased below.

…Every man and woman who puts on a Navy uniform faces possible injury or death in the national interest. Risk is part of their jobs, but it is the responsibility of the U.S. senators to ensure that the risk not be increased unnecessarily…

At age 78, almost 30 years after Admiral Zumwalt had assumed the position of CNO, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. After participating in a 5 kilometer run, he experienced a shortness of breath that was unusual for him. Two months later a chest x-ray showed a larger tumor in the lung and the diagnosis of mesothelioma was confirmed. At age 79, within 6 months of visiting the doctor due to shortness of breath, Admiral Zumwalt died of complications related to mesothelioma.

Judge William Forbes

William Forbes was from Norfolk, Virginia. As a young man he enlisted in the Army and served in World War II. Returning to the vicinity of his home town, he went back to school, obtained his high school diploma and went to college. During his college years, he spent two summer breaks working as an apprentice in the nearby shipyards. As a rigger's helper, he worked mostly in the deep innards of ships that were under repair.

Of course, these ships were lined with massive amounts of insulation made of asbestos. It was during these summers that he decided to attend law school. It was also during these summers that his exposure to asbestos would later lead to malignant mesothelioma.

After graduating from law school and entering law practice for several years, Judge Forbes ventured into politics. He became the first city attorney for the new City of Chesapeake and, in 1975, became the area’s first judge. In 1980, he became a judge in the Circuit Court.

More than 20 years after becoming a judge, in 1997, he noticed a pain in his left shoulder that was suspected to be arthritis. He underwent treatment, but it persisted. In 1998, a thoracic surgeon noted a large lung tumor on an x-ray. Judge Forbes was given the diagnosis of mesothelioma. The judge learned that mesothelioma was a deadly disease that was related to asbestos exposure. He thought back to the days, almost 50 years earlier, when he had worked in the shipyards and was exposed to asbestos every day during his summer breaks. Late in late 1998, Judge Forbes died of mesothelioma.

Husband & Wife Develop Mesothelioma

This patient story relates to a sailor who was exposed to asbestos during his long voyages on a battleship during the Korean conflict and during his many years of working in the shipyards in Norfolk, Virginia. The sailor recalls the massive amounts of insulation that lined the vessels' piping and heat-producing areas. He also recalls the "cloud of asbestos" that occurred each time the massive 16-inch guns were fired. The concussion of the guns created a fine haze of asbestos from overhead insulation.

This sailor encountered this asbestos haze many times during his 21-year Navy career. He had served aboard a number of ships that were put into the Norfolk shipyards for repair. During the repair, he helped remove and replace asbestos insulation so changes or upgrades could be expeditiously made to the boilers and engines.

After retiring from the Navy, he took a job as an air conditioning and refrigeration mechanic at the shipyard. And then went on to become the superintendent of shipbuilding. All of these positions placed him in the presence of asbestos and would eventually lead to his contraction of mesothelioma.

But, the asbestos dust also accumulated in his clothing. So, every night when he returned home from working in the asbestos filled environment, the dust on his clothing would expose his wife and children to asbestos. In 1985, over 30 years after his first exposure to asbestos, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Part of his lung was removed and he came through the surgery well.

He had survived a scare with mesothelioma and was taking time to spend with his wife and family. Fifteen years later, long after his mesothelioma tumor had been removed and the disease seemed to be stable for him, his wife was diagnosed with this deadly cancer. Her asbestos exposure apparently occurred due to the dust in his clothing many years earlier. Within a month of diagnosis, she died of mesothelioma.

Favorite Teacher

This story is about a man who always wanted to teach. To obtain money for college, he worked as a laborer in an insulation plant. The insulation produced at this plant was derived from vermiculite, a naturally occurring mineral. While generally considered a safe material, some strains of vermiculite are contaminated with asbestos.

The vermiculite mined in Libby, Montana, contains the highly lethal type of asbestos, called tremolite. At the insulation processing plant in Spokane, where this man labored for 23 months hauling tons of vermiculite ore from the railcars to the ovens, dust was constantly in the air. This dust was filled with asbestos laden vermiculite. Although the dangers of asbestos were known at the time, no one suggested that the employees of this plant wear respirators or other devices to reduce the dust inhalation.

Many decades later, this active teacher of middle school children was well liked and was an inspiration for many kids. He felt his health was excellent and spent a lot of time outdoors bicycling and playing basketball. In 1994, 36 years after working with the asbestos contaminated mineral, he started to experience abdominal swelling and shortness of breath.

In January 1995, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. He immediately had to start a process where he spent three days a week in chemotherapy. Then, he started losing weight and was constantly vomiting. Eventually, he had to give up his teaching at the Portland schools where he'd spent 28 years inspiring his students. By September 1995 he was admitted to the hospital and was on pain relievers all day. He died in early November 1995. Many of his seventh and eighth grade students could not understand his sudden passing and could not even spell the word mesothelioma. In the end, W. R. Grace, who owned the vermiculite plant, settled a wrongful death suit with the family of this "favorite teacher." The details of the settlement were not released.

His brother was also employed by the vermiculite plant, but worked outside, not inside where the dust was heaviest. So far, his lungs appear clear, but he and the rest of his family will have an asbestos cloud hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives.

Couldn't Catch His Breath
A young man worked for a short time, a long time ago, at a vermiculite processing plant in the Portland, Oregon area. Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral that has been mined and processed for over 80 years. It is used in the insulation, construction, horticulture and agriculture industries. This substance is plentiful worldwide and is mined on almost every continent.

There are many productive and safe mines in the United States. Unfortunately, certain types of vermiculite also contain asbestos. Vermiculite from the mines in Libby, Montana contained a type of asbestos known as tremolite. The Libby, Montana mines were closed in 1990 due to health hazards related to asbestos exposure.

As a young laborer in Libby in 1951 and 1952, the man of this story worked shoveling wheelbarrows full of vermiculite into large vats and hoppers. Little did he know that this activity would contaminate his lungs with tremolite, a highly lethal type of asbestos. Although the air was filled with vermiculite (and asbestos) dust the whole time he worked at the processing plant, no one suggested he wear a respirator. As a young man, it never occurred to him there could be a serious danger.

Forty years later, he is paying for the two years he worked with vermiculite and asbestos. Due to asbestosis, an asbestos related disease that causes large areas of scar tissue in the lungs, he literally cannot catch his breath. The first time it happened, he was scared to death and had to call 911. As the asbestosis has progressed, he has begun to cough up blood routinely, and has had to call 911 on many occasions.

His heart attack in 1998 was attributed to his poor lung capacity. Now his lungs can transfer only half of the oxygen they could a decade ago. The heart, having to work extra hard to get oxygen to the body, was under great strain and failed, causing the heart attack. He has recovered from the heart attack and doctors have provided inhalers to open his airwaves, but that is all that can be done.

Fortunately so far there has been no sign of the asbestos related cancer, malignant mesothelioma. He and his wife live in fear of that diagnosis. Also, his wife, who routinely shook dust from his clothing while washing his uniform 40 years ago, now also has trouble breathing. Asbestos has dramatically affected how this couple will round out their lives.

Second Generation Victim

A woman was diagnosed with mesothelioma at the relatively young age of 49. When she was initially diagnosed with lung problems, she feared the worst – that it was the same asbestos-related cancer, called mesothelioma, that had taken her father only a few years earlier.

She remembers well her father coming home almost every night covered with white dust. He put his clothes in a hamper for her mother to clean. She didn't know at the time the dust was called asbestos. She tries hard to remember how often she and her siblings played with her father and in the hamper area right after he returned from work. She is now convinced that she contracted the disease from inhaling this asbestos dust brought home from her father's workplace. Asbestos exposure is the only known cause for mesothelioma.

Her father worked as an asbestos installer. For 27 years he worked for a private contractor in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area; 25 of these years were spent at the Naval Shipyards in Portsmouth installing asbestos insulation in Navy ships. In his workplace, there were clouds of asbestos dust constantly. Although the risks of asbestos were becoming known, no effort was made by his employers to provide respirators to protect the workers' lungs. Also, no shower or locker room was provided that could have kept the dangerous asbestos dust from leaving the workplace and being carried to the employees' loved ones. He died in September 1991.

As with many mesothelioma patients, her symptoms struck suddenly. While cleaning house, she had trouble drawing a deep breath. She drove herself to an urgent care facility where her lung problem was at first diagnosed as pneumonia. But after X-rays, a much worse problem was suspected and she was hospitalized. Doctors removed fluid from her right lung. A few days later physicians made a preliminary diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma.

Within a month she had to undergo surgery to remove part of her lung in hopes of eliminating the cancerous growth from the body. She recovered well from a nine-and-a-half-hour operation that completely removed her right lung, but the long term prospects are still unknown. After surgery, her worse fears were confirmed: She was positively diagnosed with malignant diffuse mesothelioma.

Although she worries about her mesothelioma and her prognosis, she is more concerned about her brother and sister, who also played near the hamper and with their father as he returned from work. Her own children may be at risk as well. They spent many nights in the home of their grandparents. She does not want her family to become three generations of mesothelioma victims.

Asbestos From Many Sources

Mesothelioma is known to be caused by exposure to asbestos. When asbestos is inhaled, it becomes imbedded in the lung lining or pleura. Many mesothelioma patients worked in asbestos mines or in locations, such as shipyards or construction sites, where asbestos dust was common and could be easily inhaled. For this patient's story, he never worked in a shipyard or other places where asbestos dust was common. The exposure to asbestos leading to the development of mesothelioma is unknown.

This patient was a fit and athletic man in his mid-forties. He had recently moved from Virginia to San Francisco, where he had been appointed as a high level executive in a San Francisco based office. He spent his spare time in activities including long-distance cycling, canoeing and road racing (he had completed two marathons). Shortly after he moved to Northern California, he and his family were spending time camping in and exploring the Big Sur area of the California coast. This is when he first noticed the pain in his side. Although he tried to ignore it, the pain persisted and soon his breathing became labored. In April 1997, he was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma, or a cancer of unknown origin.

In November of 1998, the doctors confirmed the worst possible diagnosis: mesothelioma cancer. The man learned that he had contracted a deadly disease, and that this disease had a mortality rate of 100%. The next four years were a struggle against this very persistent foe.

In January 1999, only two months after the confirmatory diagnosis, this patient underwent a twelve hour operation to remove the lining, or pleura, or his left lung and as much of the ever-expanding cancer tumor that could safely be removed. A year later he moved back to Virginia into a house near the coast. He once had been a long distance runner and cyclist, now he could hardly walk the two blocks to the beach without becoming exhausted.

Typically, mesothelioma patients die within a year of the disease onset. This patient was determined to fight it and enrolled in a clinical trial at Duke University for mesothelioma treatments. Initially the cocktail of anti-cancer medications, combined with the radiation therapy, seemed to halt the spread of the mesothelioma cancer cells. But after a short reprieve, the cancer again rapidly expanded.

Shortly after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, this patient met with a group of lawyers. This legal team questioned him extensively to determine the source of the asbestos exposure. He had never worked in an asbestos mine or plant or in an area where asbestos dust was common, such as a shipyard or construction site. However, his father had worked in the shipyards and had come home with asbestos dust on his clothes. But others in his family had not contracted the disease, and it was hard to determine if this asbestos exposure had lead to his condition.

He had also worked on model cars as a younger man, doing his own brake work. Brake pads at that time were lined with asbestos. Additionally, he could have been exposed to asbestos when he worked in an auto parts store, where brake work was also done. But since there is limited scientific knowledge concerning the levels of asbestos required to cause mesothelioma, the source of the deadly disease for this man remains unknown.

In March 2001, he passed away. He had received a large legal settlement for the mesothelioma injury he had incurred, but this settlement could not replace his health or the loss to his wife, family and friends.

As an electrician's apprentice in the Newport News Navy Shipyard, this safety-minded man noticed that welders wore ponchos lined with asbestos cloth to protect their clothing from welding sparks. He also remembered that asbestos dust was mixed with water so that it could be applied to the bulkheads, or walls, and the officers' quarters as a fire retardant.

After working as an apprentice for four years, he went away to college to study safety engineering and returned to the shipyard as its safety engineer. As a safety official, he learned that asbestos companies had known of the dangers of asbestos since the 1930s and 1940s. He learned that when asbestos dust was inhaled, it could lead to asbestos lung cancer and diseases such as asbestosis and pleural mesothelioma. He also remembered that as an apprentice, no one warned the workers, who installed asbestos insulation, to wear respirators, or of the dangers of the asbestos insulation and fire retardant material.

This background lead this patient to be the first to publish a book about asbestos exposure safety at the Newport News Shipyard. He was responsible for ensuring that the workers were wearing the proper protective respirators and overalls. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) had recently created standards for occupational exposure of hazardous materials, including asbestos exposure, and he used this as a model to create the safety manual for the workers who were his responsibility.

In an ironic twist of fate, this patient awoke one morning with a pain in his right side, like a hot knife slicing through him. A month later the biopsy showed that he was suffering from malignant pleural mesothelioma. He was furious with the diagnosis because he knew the callous way in which the employers had exposed workers, including him, to asbestos. His mind flashed back to his years as an apprentice when he wore the asbestos ponchos without a second thought, and when he watched as asbestos dust was applied as a fire retardant. He also thought about how he heckled the insulation workers to wear their respirators and to properly remove their coveralls before going home.

Shortly after the diagnosis, he underwent a lengthy operation where surgeons removed his right lung and most of the surrounding tissue. After the surgery, this vibrant man can no longer use his right side and has trouble speaking.

His asbestos safety book may have protected many asbestos workers who followed him, but unfortunately his own book came too late to help protect him.

See also:» More Mesothelioma Stories