Victim’s Brother Described His Father As “Looking Like A Snowman” Of Asbestos Dust When Arriving Home From Work
A 2012 newspaper report, “Cancer victim contracted disease while a child, from asbestos worker father’s overalls, says coroner”, discusses Keith Turbull’s three-year battle with asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma, and his tragic death on February 1, 2012.
Keith was born on May 27, 1945 and was diagnosed with the fatal cancer asbestos-mesothelioma in October 2008. The coroner, Edward Thomas, found that the fatal mesothelioma was contracted when Keith was a child from the overalls of his father, who worked with asbestos at Cape Universal.
Keith’s father would come home with his overalls covered in dust. Keith’s brother, Martyn, described his father as “looking like a snowman” of asbestos dust. The entire family would greet and hug Keith’s father as he returned home; it was at this time that they were being indirectly exposed to asbestos.
Coroner Thomas said that exposure to asbestos of typically the main cause mesothelioma when a person develops the asbestos-related cancer.
The Croxley Green Residents’ Association helped the Turnbulls after Keith’s mesothelioma diagnosis, opened a community fundraising account, and held a special fundraising event in 2010. There was also a marathon to help raise money and awareness for the Turnbulls in 2011.
Keith’s secondary exposure to asbestos from his father’s work clothes, even though it was 20 or 30 years ago, was the cause of him developing mesothelioma and his tragic death.
Even though the events in this article did not take place in North Carolina, second-hand asbestos exposure and subsequent tragedies, such as Keith’s asbestos-related death, can happen anywhere.