Kay Quinn, news anchor on KSDK Channel 5 News, interviewed Julie Gundlach, a St. Louis native mesothelioma survivor at during the 5:00 newscast on September 23
what was most touching was when Julie talked about where she found the strength to make regular trips to New York for his surgeries.
"(Julie) motivation for packaging for each trip - a chance at a future with her daughter," Quinn told viewers. Julie explained that she could not imagine her 7 year old daughter, Madeline, high school, let along be a year older without her mother.
What parent can not relate to that?
Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Julie was diagnosed in his 30s, an unusual age that most victims are typically diagnosed later in life. She was exposed to asbestos as a child by his father who worked as an industrial electrician.
She said Quinn how his father, who died a year before she was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 06, came home covered in asbestos dust after crawling through the insulation. Exposure came when she gave him a hug "welcome home," she said.
After the completed segment, co-host Mike Bush expressed surprise at how something so simple as hugging your child could make them seriously ill.
"here, you do not even think about that stuff, that your father was going through all these crawl spaces and in the attic with all asbestos and hugs his children when he returns home and children get sick, "he commented.
What Quinn replied, "Or hugged his wife. And it is very well documented, these so-called secondary cases or used. "
She's right. Take home exposure incidents that result in the person getting mesothelioma are becoming more widespread. (See here and here.) But through hard work defenders like Julie and the rest of the mesothelioma community, people learn that asbestos is a health issue and current security which must be taken into account.
Julie talked about the advocacy work it made to promote awareness about this "orphan cancer" and the need for a total ban on asbestos, Quinn said, "it will not be long."
to everyone who would like to participate and help Julie with her fight against mesothelioma, they can run with it this Saturday in Alton Miles for Meso 5K race, which is sponsored by the firm. For more information, visit the Miles for Meso site at www.milesformeso.org.
