Posted on January 26, 2018
We have been touched by asbestos in individual ways, yet we are joined together by a bond of community. As a testament to the strength of our global family, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is highlighting the courageous stories of our members with the “Share Your Story” feature on our website.
This week, we would like to honor the story of Steven shared by his wife, Julia, who is a part of our ADAO family.
We encourage you to submit your personal stories by clicking here and following the simple instructions on the page. In sharing, comes healing. Remember, you are not alone.
“Companies Chose Corporate Greed Over People’s Lives” – Steven’s Story
Name: Steven
Location: Indiana, USA
Date of Birth: 07/24/1961
Diagnosis: Mesothelioma
Date of Diagnosis: 11/15/17
Treatment: Cisplatin and Pemetrexed (Alimta®), nivolumab (Opdivo®) & ipilimumab (Yervoy®) . Started Radiation
Date of Death: 01/06/2018
How has asbestos changed your life? (Shared by Julia– unedited)
My husband recently died at the age of 56. On his death certificate it was written “Cause of Death-metastatic mesothelioma”. It was also written for his manner of death “Natural Causes”. I’m having a hard time dealing with the fact that it says “natural causes” when the actual cause was due to asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a product that the companies knew was dangerous and chose to continue using. My husband’s exposure took place when he was in his teens and early adulthood; changing brake pads on vehicles was something all teen did at the time. His exposure was a little more due to the fact his parents owned a used car lot. However, my husband’s exposure to asbestos was in the 70s, but these companies knew about the dangers in the 50s long before my husband was even born. All of these companies were recommended to remove the asbestos from their products or label their products with a warning about the link between Asbestos and mesothelioma. These companies chose to continue using asbestos, and not issue a public warning about the dangers and/or death. Therefore, my husband’s death should be considered murder, not natural causes. They knew the material was dangerous and would be fatal and yet they chose to ignore it and pay death benefits rather than stop using asbestos. These companies chose corporate greed over people’s lives; that is murder. We have waited long enough for the companies to do the right thing-they chose not to. I am to the point where I honestly believe the only way we are going to protect our future generations from this dangerous material and the resulting terrible diseases is to hit these companies with what matters most to them- their bottom line. I honestly believe that every victim and victim’s family must file lawsuits. We have to make these companies answer for what they’ve done to us, our family members. We can’t hide anymore. We have to make sure asbestos is banned in the US. Banning asbestos is the only way we will ever stop the senseless deaths.