Here she is!
Facing Our Diagnosis As One
When the doctor
looked at me and told me that I had cancer at the age of 36, I was devastated
to say the least. It was pleural mesothelioma cancer, which is primarily linked to
exposure to asbestos. All that I could think about was my beautiful three and a
half month old baby girl. This should have been one of the best times in my
life and here I was facing death.
It never fails, when I tell people about my diagnosis, they always wonder how that is possible when the stuff is banned and I am so young to have been exposed. However, the ugly truth is that asbestos is not banned at all and I was exposed when I was a kid. My father worked in construction. His biggest responsibilities were working with drywall-sanding, taping, hanging. When he came home he was always covered with dust, but I always ran to him. That white dust that he was always covered in contained so many microscopic asbestos fibers. Who would have ever known that I was at risk?
As for this disease being reserved for people older than me, that is simply not the case. I am part of a large group of people, some even younger than me, who had been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Initially, the people who were being diagnosed were older men. They had either worked in construction, in the military, or other trades where they had been exposed. Then the disease started affecting their wives and now us children. We were the kids that ran to our dads when they came home. We were the ones that did not care how dusty dad's jacket was, we wanted to be near him and sometimes, we even pretended to be him by wearing his clothes. Now here we are, facing this disease while trying to begin our own lives. Some people, just like me, had just started their families when they were diagnosed.
Hearing that you have cancer is one terrifying experience. I stay in touch with the others in my situation because together we are stronger. We can cry together and have hope together. We can celebrate our victories of life with cancer together and assist one another when we have mountains to climb up ahead.
There is some good news. Medical technology is helping us to survive. People of all ages are being treated and pulling through to the other side. However, there is not enough prevention in place to keep this from happening. I am sharing my side of the story about mesothelioma in hopes that people everywhere will come together to bring attention to this issue that so many of us have been dealing with in our lives. If we don't, there will be no changes in the way things are handled. I know that there are many more people out there that have experienced the fear first hand and let me tell you, we can help ourselves even more by making the problem known.
It never fails, when I tell people about my diagnosis, they always wonder how that is possible when the stuff is banned and I am so young to have been exposed. However, the ugly truth is that asbestos is not banned at all and I was exposed when I was a kid. My father worked in construction. His biggest responsibilities were working with drywall-sanding, taping, hanging. When he came home he was always covered with dust, but I always ran to him. That white dust that he was always covered in contained so many microscopic asbestos fibers. Who would have ever known that I was at risk?
As for this disease being reserved for people older than me, that is simply not the case. I am part of a large group of people, some even younger than me, who had been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Initially, the people who were being diagnosed were older men. They had either worked in construction, in the military, or other trades where they had been exposed. Then the disease started affecting their wives and now us children. We were the kids that ran to our dads when they came home. We were the ones that did not care how dusty dad's jacket was, we wanted to be near him and sometimes, we even pretended to be him by wearing his clothes. Now here we are, facing this disease while trying to begin our own lives. Some people, just like me, had just started their families when they were diagnosed.
Hearing that you have cancer is one terrifying experience. I stay in touch with the others in my situation because together we are stronger. We can cry together and have hope together. We can celebrate our victories of life with cancer together and assist one another when we have mountains to climb up ahead.
There is some good news. Medical technology is helping us to survive. People of all ages are being treated and pulling through to the other side. However, there is not enough prevention in place to keep this from happening. I am sharing my side of the story about mesothelioma in hopes that people everywhere will come together to bring attention to this issue that so many of us have been dealing with in our lives. If we don't, there will be no changes in the way things are handled. I know that there are many more people out there that have experienced the fear first hand and let me tell you, we can help ourselves even more by making the problem known.
Here's the link to Heather's blog: http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/
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