Guest Post: Mesothelioma from Secondary Exposure {Thankful for Health}

James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

One thing I am truly thankful for is the health of my family. This past weekend my baby was sick and we were stuck at home while she rested out her fever, but thankfully it was nothing serious. My parents are healthy, my husband is healthy, and our beautiful girl is healthy. How often though do I thank God for my own personal health? Honestly not much. It's more usual that I wait until I am sick to ask for healing. Below is a guest post from Heather Von St. James, a mother, wife, and cancer survivor. 

Mesothelioma from Secondary Exposure

“You have cancer.” I have never been as scared as I was the day I was told those awful three words.  About 3 1/2 months before I was diagnosed with cancer, I had been in an emotional bliss because I had celebrated the birth of my daughter.  Then I was being informed that I had cancer, specifically, pleural mesothelioma cancer.  This type of cancer was usually a result of being near asbestos.

Like most people who I talked to after my diagnosis, I thought asbestos was banned, and I wondered where I could have come into contact with it.  I quickly learned that asbestos was not banned, and I learned where asbestos could be found.  Sadly, I quickly knew that it came from my father.  My father was never aware of the danger he was putting his family in when he came home from his construction job each night with white dust covering his clothes.  He never knew that those tiny white particles contained millions of microscopic asbestos fibers.
 
Unlike the typical mesothelioma patient, I was only 36 when I was diagnosed.  Most patients are older and work in different trade jobs.  Some of these jobs may include plumbing jobs, heating jobs, electrical jobs, mechanical jobs, and military jobs on ships.  Other patients were women who handled the asbestos filled laundry and the secretaries who worked in schools that had been built with asbestos filled materials.
 
Today’s generation of mesothelioma sufferers look similar to me.  They are young men and women in their late 20’s and early 30’s. These are the children who were around their fathers who had asbestos on their clothes after work.  Like me, these are the children who ran into their father’s arms when they came home from work with asbestos filled clothes.  These are young men and women are just getting married and starting families of their own.  Like me, the mesothelioma brings their lives to an unforeseen halt.  However, these patients are able to celebrate the fact that more medical advances have allowed people of all ages to have better odds of surviving this disease.

The word cancer is a devastating word.  It is more devastating when you learn that you have cancer.  Many mesothelioma patients, including me, have hope in surviving this fight.  The mesothelioma sufferers are a community.  As a community, we are able to talk together, share our experiences together, support each other, and cry with one another, but most of all, we can celebrate our victories together.
 
I continue to share my mesothelioma survivor story with others to bring awareness to mesothelioma.  I truly believe that if there is more awareness to this disease, then fewer people will have to suffer from it.  I tell my story to give new patients hope; I tell my story to help sufferers to stop living in fear.  If one person benefits from my story, then I know I am doing the right thing.

To find out more please visit The Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog.