When my sister attended elementary school, his teacher once asked what his father did for a living.
He was? ? timeshare ?? in its class, and students have publicly said his classmates and teachers on their parents ?? jobs.
My sister was in front of his class and boldly replied, ?? My dad works, and he never takes a bath. ?? When she told my parents what happened at school, they found his comically humiliating response.
You see, my father, Richard Lloyd Barker, worked in a paper mill, and he used the showers of the plant ?? then it wouldn ?? t bring his dirty clothes. But his dirty clothes, which probably contained a certain amount of asbestos, may have hurt us badly as they do.
My father died from mesothelioma.
clothing dirty Dangerously
My father would always carry a bag of clean clothes to work on the first day of work, and return home full of dirty clothes at the end of the week .
Because it would get so dirty on the job, it would be a shower at work to avoid dragging dirt in his vehicle. He did this for the duration of his career.
When he is domiciled clothes, they were covered with white and gray mud. He always dropped the bag of dirty laundry through the door of the basement, and my sister, my mother and I take it downstairs to the laundry room.
We separate the machine and start washing clothes if Dad ?? would be ready for work the next day. My sister and I thought nothing of doing cannonballs into the piles of linen. It was fun, and we had a good time doing it.
But we ?? did not know about the possible danger, we were getting.
Hidden Dangers of Secondhand Exposure
my heart sank when I read studies of families exposed to asbestos through contact with a family member who was exposed to asbestos at work.
I am fully aware that my father contracted mesothelioma through exposure to work. The studies I read validated all fears, and I assume many others experiencing the same kinds of fears, too.
It is frightening to watch mesothelioma handle your family, pull them through the trenches and leave it in ruins. It is a harrowing experience that I wish for anyone. Perhaps there are others out there who have the same fears I hide in the depths of my heart.
Should family members fear?
Yes and no.
mesothelioma and respiratory medicine expert, Dr. Albert Miller, published a study in 05 on the cases of familial mesothelioma.
He evaluated 32 mesothelioma cases involving members of the related household for 15 years, and studies reveal alarming information for people who have been exposed to asbestos by their relatives.
Miller says ?? Asbestos is brought home to family members on the hair, clothes and personal effects of asbestos workers.??
the asbestos workers in his study included:
- 13 shipyard workers
- 7 insulators
- 2 railway workers
- 2 manufacturers of asbestos products
- 2 steel mill workers
- 2 refinery workers
- 1 pipefitter
- 1 bricklayer
- 1 construction worker
However, this list doesn ?? t exhausting occupations with potential exposure to asbestos, but it includes many types of skilled workers.
Miller said that the subjects in the study had no other exposure to asbestos, other than being in the same house as someone who worked in asbestos. In fact, 13 of the 32 patients were under 10 when they were exposed to asbestos.
The average latency period was 38 to 59 years after exposure, Miller said.
Miller? of? predecessor, Dr Muriel Newhouse, had first discovered a link between asbestos workers ?? homes and family mesothelioma in 1965. Dr. Newhouse education on occupational diseases at the London School of Hygiene. His work has solidified his career as a world leader in research on asbestos.
Their studies involved 83 patients with mesothelioma. The results showed more than half of these patients ?? had occupational exposure to asbestos or asbestos lived with workers.??
What does this mean for families?
They said that the people who live in the same house as an asbestos worker are 10 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than those who do not live in the same house with a worker from the asbestos.
the only work that my father ever worked for in my life was a paper mill. He worked for over two decades. I was exposed to asbestos on a regular basis.
When my father died of mesothelioma in 1993, I didn t ?? understand the implications of his illness might have for me.
While I don ?? t live in fear, I let my doctors know my battle ?? s father with the disease.
Mesothelioma is considered a rare form of cancer and is often misdiagnosed. Knowing that I knew the exposure of children, I think that my doctors would be vigilant enough to recognize the symptoms if I can ever developed.
Statistically speaking, the chances of developing mesothelioma are pretty slim. But factoring in the tenfold by the family show, these statistics become somewhat larger and disturbing.
A family ?? the battle with mesothelioma forces them to find the strength and courage they did not know they had.
Courage My father ?? s shows exactly what we are made Barkers. If other family members develop the disease, we have the experience and the strength of my father in our arsenal, and we ?? won t play well.
