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“I know what I’m going to die of, I just don’t know when. You can accept it but hell, you’ve got to fight it.”
By asbestoshub | July 1, 2008
Posted on AsbestosHUB.
After years working in the shipyard and on nuclear power stations, Jack Niven and his wife Joan started planning their retirement. That was almost 2 years ago. But Jack, who is 65 in February, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in July 2007. 
The fatal disease usually claims victims around a year after diagnosis.
Jack’s persistence ensured he was diagnosed early and although he is in constant pain he’s not willing to succumb to the asbestos-related cancer yet.
“What I want to know is when are they going to get the cure?” said Jack, of Worcester Street, Barrow.
“I know what I’m going to die of, I just don’t know when. You can accept it but hell, you’ve got to fight it.”
The diagnosis came a week before Joan’s 60th birthday. The couple decided to wait until after the party to tell their family – four children and six grandchildren.
“The family know I can cope with it. I’ve got three sons and a daughter,” he explained.
“This is an industrial disease. Nobody else in my family will get it and I can’t pass it on to anybody else.
“I’ve been told mine is a slow growing one. It means I could live 12 months or I could live 18 months. I kept asking how long I was going to live and they wouldn’t tell me because everybody is different.”
Jack unknowingly played Russian roulette with asbestos when he worked in the boiler shop at Vickers shipyard.
“What’s associated with boilers but asbestos?” Jack asked.
“The place was covered in it.
“This was when I was around 25. It’s taken 40 years to show its head.
“When I was working in Vickers nobody knew they were dying of it.
“My dad could have died from it. He was a welder. He used to get fluid on his lungs. He could hardly breathe and died in his late 70s.”
Jack says he resents being unwittingly exposed by his employers.
Unlike others cancers which can be triggered by lifestyle factors, there was
nothing Jack could have done to protect himself from mesothelioma.
“Everybody has the same right to life as the next person,” he said.
“With this it doesn’t matter how rich you are, because there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Given the lack of effective treatment and because it’s a relatively rare disease, families often feel very isolated.
Topics: Exposure |
