Mesothelioma: A Silent Killer and Personal Journey of Loss

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Speaker 1: Hi and welcome to this episode of the Pete George

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Experience. I'm Pete George and today's episode is one that's a

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little bit close to my heart and may challenge some people. It's

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all about Mesothelioma, the quiet killer. So I was born on

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the 1st of May and May has sort of changed for me, especially 15

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years ago, in 2009, on the 7th of May, when my father lost his

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battle with mesothelioma. Now, for those of you who are unsure

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what mesothelioma is, it's a silent killer and it's all

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brought about from handling and being in and around asbestos in

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the PMG, which is now Telstra, and he was a linesman and back

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then all the cables were wrapped in asbestos cloth and when

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they're underground, cutting the cloth to fix lines and

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everything, that's where he inhaled it and consequently, he

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was doing that in his 20s and dad died when he was 69 and it

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was roughly a two three year battle, um, but the damage was

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done a lot, a lot of times before then. With mesothelioma,

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the, the problem is that they can't well, it's not that I

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can't, it's in general, that they can't pick it up until it's

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quite late in the process of killing someone, and there is a

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lot of hope out there that over time that this can change and

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they can pick it up early and help people out. It's worse than

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asbestosis if everybody, or most people, would have heard of that

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and mesothelioma actually attacks the pleura of the lung.

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In dad's case, it ate away the pleura of the lung. In Dad's

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case, it ate away the pleura of the lung, which is the outside

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lining of the lung, and in the process of doing that it always

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filled up his lungs with fluid and it was very uncomfortable,

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painful. It consequently ate through that lining and into his

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stomach and then consequently ate away at Dad and killed him.

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On the 7th of May Could have been the 6th Jane and I that's

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my wife we went down to be with him. We couldn't get a flight in

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the afternoon I live in another state to where Dad was. The

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plane was delayed. We got to the hospital 15 minutes after Dad

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passed away, which was 12.15, so on the 7th. So we can toss a

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coin over what day he died, but he actually died. Now, a friend

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of mine, cam good lad, we can toss a coin over what day he

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died, but he actually died. Now A friend of mine, cam good lad,

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got his heart in a big place and in the right place. I started

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noticing Cam doing a poster here mesothelioma and I wondered what

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the go was there and reached out to him and he informed me that

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his wife's uncle and good friend lost his dad to Mesothelioma.

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His name was Tony and there's been an organisation set up. His

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name was Tony and there's been an organisation set up and it's

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called Trail to Triumph Awareness and Funds for

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Mesothelioma. So far, they've raised around about $400.

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I'll just go and check on their website for you, which is trail

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to triumphcomau, and make sure you head over there and donate.

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Um, yeah, they've raised 430 there, 430 000 since 2014, which

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is an absolutely fantastic effort.

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Um, we do a lot for breast cancer cancer, but this one is

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not generally aimed at guys, but the jobs that they did back then

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led them to asbestosis and mesothelioma. Where, to the

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point, my auntie? She has asbestosis or early symptoms of

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that. I haven't spoken to her since Dad passed away. That's

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another story, but we don't need to go into family issues on a

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podcast like this. And her husband was a fridge mechanic

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and Uncle Frank when he was going through his apprenticeship

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and even late into his career there was a lot of asbestos in

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the linings and things like that at fridges. And, aunty Beryl,

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she actually picked up his clothes like every wife does,

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shakes them to put them in the washing machine and that's where

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she was picking up the asbestos dust, even to the point now

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where me and my sister still get lungs examined every now and

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again just to make sure that we're okay, because Dad used to

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come home from work and as kids do, you run up and hug your Dad

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and he still had it all on his work clothes and you just got to

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be a little bit cautious. So, um, some of the things

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around mesothelioma, um, and some of the symptoms and this is

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why it's hard to pick is shortness of breath, chest pain,

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persistent, persistent cough no, I had a cough, but it wasn't

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because of that Fatigue and unexplained weight loss. And

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when they do the diagnosis that's through x-rays, ct scans

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or MRIs, biopsies and lab tests. It's quite daunting to when you

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you first have to go through the process of being diagnosed and

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one of the things that still resonates with me with with dad

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and because I kept on checking to make sure how much fluid was

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on his lungs on a regular basis through CAT scans and things

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like that and the pain that he was going through. I can

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remember the week before he passed away. He indicated then

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that he had enough. He was going for another scan and he said

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I've had enough of them. And the day I got the phone call to come

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back down to Victoria, the person that called me said that

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Dad's refused, he's in too much pain and he's had enough. And I

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knew that time would come and it's pretty hard for everybody

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that's around. Anyone that dies, never mind seeing the cruelness

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of mesothelioma where, uh, in the february of that year, 2009,

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I saw dad in hospital and he was 70 kilo. When he died, he was

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less than 30. So that's the the type of killer. It is just like

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any cancer. But the problem is with mesothelioma and asbestosis

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. It's not too bad because they can actually trim the lung, but

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once mesothelioma takes over, it's pretty much a foregone

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conclusion, just a matter of time and keeping the people

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comfortable. So what's the purpose of this

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podcast? To make awareness, or this episode is to make

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awareness of mesothelioma? Um, on the 19th I think it goes for

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two days let me go back and check for you. Uh, it's on 19th,

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2021st of april um, cameron and a group of people will be doing

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an event. It's a swim event where they 25-kilometre swim

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over two and a half days. So they do that to help raise funds

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. No-transcript trail to

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triumphcomau. The link will be in the show

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notes and please, um, I know it's tough times at the moment

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for a lot of people, um, and I have a philosophy philosophy

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with raising funds like this, any sense of good sense towards

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making someone's life a little bit better.

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So stay tuned, so follow us on all the platforms and social and

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things like that, because hopefully, prior to the start of

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their swim, I will have someone on which will be a podcast

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episode, but we'll actually do a live or a recorded interview to

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make more awareness of it and hopefully see if we can get them

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to half a million. It would be great and unfortunately, the new

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asbestos is the dust from the granite tops and we'll get into

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that in another chapter of the Pete George experience. And, as

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I always say that this show will bring an awareness and have a

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little bit of fun on the way. So please subscribe to the podcast

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