Nurse, Mesothelioma Patient to be Honored at Asbestos Disease Awareness Conference

A nurse diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in 2002 will be honored at the 6th Annual Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) Asbestos Disease Awareness Conference in 2010.

The conference will take place in Chicago, Illinois from April 9 – 11 and will present June Breit, RN, with the Alan Reinstein Memorial Award, an award created to honor former ADAO president Alan Reinstein, who passed away from mesothelioma in 2006.

Following her mesothelioma diagnosis, Breit became extremely active in the mesothelioma community, advocating for stronger awareness about the asbestos-related cancer and meeting with the governor of Pennsylvania to implement Mesothelioma Awareness Day in the state.

Breit worked for nearly 30 years as a registered nurse and was familiar with the poor prognosis typically associated with mesothelioma when she was diagnosed. When her mesothelioma symptoms first surfaced and she experienced difficulty breathing, Breit initially thought she had the flu.

Her doctor suspected pneumonia, but when an X-ray revealed the presence of fluid in her left lung, a biopsy was preformed and the presence of malignant mesothelioma was confirmed.

Breit turned to treatment to combat the cancer, undergoing an extrapleural pneumonectomy, a surgical procedure in which portions of the lung, the lining of the lung and the diaphragm are removed. She also received chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

One of the biggest surprises following treatment Breit, an avid swimmer, experienced came when she tried swimming again. “I sank like a stone instead!” she said. “Turns out you need two lungs to be able to be able to float, so now I use my granddaughter’s noodle when we go to the pool.”

Today, seven years after her mesothelioma diagnosis, Breit continues to devote her efforts towards banning asbestos and increasing funding for the creation of additional treatment options for mesothelioma patients.

“I hate this disease, and pretty much consider myself to have been murdered by a society that chose to let asbestos be used even though it was known to be toxic,” said Breit.


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Mesothelioma Patient Dies, Wife Demands Investigation

An English train driver has succumbed to mesothelioma. Now, his widow has spoken before a coroner's inquest and unveiled the truth behind her husband's asbestos-related cancer. Frank White died in June of this year. He was 74. He was an employee of British rail for nearly 50 years, and he was exposed to asbestos while on the job. While training to become a driver, White was instructed to clean out fire boxes that were rife with asbestos.

His widow, Freda, 80, said: "Frank would tell me about how some of the workers would make snowballs out of the asbestos to throw at each other while they were messing about, or make it into a football and kick it about. He was a fit man who was never ill. He tended to his allotment every day for 35 years and had years in him until he fell ill. I feel really cheated and angry and feel something should have been done about this years ago. Companies must have known it [asbestos] was dangerous."

Mr. and Mrs. White have two children, David, 48, and Susan Wood, 45. Said daughter Susan, "He was young-looking and strong for his age, which makes it all the more sad that he was taken from us by this disease. He lived for his job and would not have done anything else."

The coroner's inquest recorded a verdict of industrial disease, and the coroner was satisfied that Mr. White's mesothelioma was caused by his exposure to asbestos during his time working for British Rail.

Physicians in the UK, like Dr. Robert Winter of Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, as well as physicians here in the US continue to work towards a cure for mesothelioma cancer.


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