A British mother diagnosed with terminal cancer believes it was caused by hugging her asbestos worker grandfather when she was a child. Debra Edwards, 44, is one of the youngest people in Britain to have mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer usually caused by exposure to asbestos.
“Nobody understands why I got it at such an early age. It usually takes between 20 and 40 years to develop,” Ms Edwards, who lives in Honicknowle near Plymouth, southwestern England, told The Plymouth Herald. Plymouth has been highlighted as the UK’s third worst hotspot for the disease, with about 35 to 40 cases appearing each year.
Her grandfather, Jack Duffin, who worked at the nearby Devonport Dockyard, died 10 years ago aged 86 from another disease related to asbestos and smoking.
She said, “When I was young he used to live around the corner in Plymouth and I used to see him almost every day. In those days they used to come home with asbestos on their clothes. I could have caught this by the normal cuddles between a grandfather and his granddaughter.”
Ms Edwards was diagnosed with mesothelioma in December 2008. She is a mother of two now living a day at a time. She has received an undisclosed payment from the British government.
Bystander asbestos exposure is not unheard of. In fact, we just blogged about another case in which a woman contracted mesothelioma from washing her husband’s asbestos-covered clothing when he got home from work. Bystander exposure is highly likely to lead to the development of mesothelioma, possibly because of asbestos dust that workers bring home if their employer does not require them to shower and change their clothing before leaving the job site.