Asbestos Mesothelioma, A Plumber's Story

Dahlonega, GAAfter returning home from World War II, Margi's father began a career as a plumber, a career that would last many years, and in the end be responsible for his death. Mr. Hall was lethally exposed to asbestos during his work. He died of asbestos mesothelioma in 2004.

"My father was diagnosed by accident," Margi said. "He had a routine x-ray done in 1981 prior to undergoing bypass surgery, and that's when they found a spot on his lung. The doctors told us that my father's cancer had spread to all his vital organs, he was riddled with disease, and consequently, it would be impossible to do anything for him. In fact, they used my father as a study case, because of the way the mesothelioma had spread from his lungs to the rest of his body. The day my father died the doctor called me into his office and told me it was a miracle he had lived as long as he had."

It turns out that Margi's father had been exposed to asbestos insulation when he was installing plumbing. "They would be spraying the insulation around him while he worked," Margi said. "He was not aware, and could not have been aware of the danger. It wasn't until people started getting sick that something was done. Then there was a class action suit against the companies that manufactured the asbestos, which was handled by the plumber's union. We still haven't received any money from that settlement."

Asbestos was widely used as an insulating material in the 1950s, possibly earlier, but certainly through to the late 1970s. That's exactly when Mr. Hall was working as a plumber. He and thousands of men like him were exposed, unknowingly, to asbestos fibres. But only recently have the consequences begun to manifest, because the latency period for mesothelioma is in the range of 20-30 years. Worse, there is no definitive treatment for the disease.

Margi's father was ill for 15 years. For the last 6 he was on oxygen, and was extremely limited as to activities of daily living. But, through all his suffering, and he did suffer terribly, he maintained a positive outlook. In fact when he could no longer do his woodworking he took up quilting, and made all his children and grandchildren quilts. One of his quilts even won first place in the county fair. "One of his grandchildren was at the fair and called him to tell him he had won, so we took him to the fair to see," Margi said."That was just a couple of weeks before he died."