My Lovely Dad - Mesothelioma Awareness Day

I don't usually do these kinds of posts but I touched on Mesothelioma, which is a type of Cancer caused by exposure to asbestos a while ago when my Dad's came back.  Recently I was contacted by Heather who has suffered from Mesothelioma if I would do a post on my blog today as it is Mesothelioma awareness day.

Unfortunately for my Dad, despite 5 years following successful radical surgery of being cancer free but probably not living in those 5 years the type of life he would have liked to live, he died 4 months after the return of his cancer.  Leaving me devastated, raw, an emotional mess who made too many decisions too quickly and a void in my family.

The thing with Mesothelioma is you only get it through exposure to asbestos, my Dad was exposed to asbestos at 15 when he worked in the Bristol shipyard as an apprentice Ships Carpenter and they had a rush job where he had to rip out the ships lagging which was asbestos and it is my belief that everyone who worked on that job died of the disease.  So after 50 years of the spores lying dormant it materialised.

So why am I writing this?  I suppose to raise awareness during and after my Dad's illness I have met a lot of people who work or have worked labouring and many have done cash in hand jobs removing asbestos and I know that it was used in houses until the 70's so people may have it in them or their sheds and if you do please pay the extra and get it removed properly and check that it is still intact as I believe it can become unstable and leak spores.

I don't have many pictures of my Dad on my computer but I do have one of me and him on my wedding day, it is fitting as my Dad was a peacock who loved clothes and he was the one who came to chose my wedding dress not my Mum as she hates shopping.  So I will finish this post with a the picture of me and him, I am thankful for all the years I had with my Dad and the relationship we had I am just greedy and would have liked more and that is why I am writing this post to raise awareness of asbestos and Mesothelioma.

You can find out a lot more about Mesothelioma here and more about Heather here