Exposed To Asbestos Dust As A Kid While Helping His Dad Work Around The House, Death From Asbestos Cancer At 56
An article from the March 30, 2012 Sydney Morning Herald, “Asbestos now affecting third wave of victims”, reports the story of Lincoln Hall, a man who is famous for his adventures climbing Mount Everest and a near-death experience in 2006 below the summit. He did not die from any type of climbing expedition; instead, he tragically died earlier in March 2012 at age 56 from mesothelioma.
Hall and his father used to build cubby houses when Hall was a child, using asbestos cement flat sheets. This type of secondary exposure is “bystanders” asbestos exposure, which is known as the third wave of those who suffer from mesothelioma.
The article reports that diagnoses of mesothelioma has continued to rise – data now shows that each year, there are between 700 and 750 new cases (data compiled through Australian Mesothelioma Registry).
Asbestos is present in houses and landfill sites, according to Professor van Zandwijk, director of the Asbestos Disease Research Institute. He also stated that in Australia, asbestos is everywhere, and has decided that a good structural approach to asbestos waste is needed in order to get rid of the dangerous potential of the remains of asbestos.
The first wave of sufferers were the people exposed to asbestos by actually handling the raw material in mines. Patients in the second wave of mesothelioma sufferers include builders, carpenters, and other people who worked directly with asbestos-filled materials.
Professor van Zandwijk noted that the reason that the number of people suffering from mesothelioma continues to rise is because the gap between exposure and developing mesothelioma can be anywhere between 20 years and 70 years. The average gap is 40 years; during this period, the asbestos fibers cause chronic inflammation.
Even though the events in this article did not take place in North Carolina, second-hand asbestos exposure and subsequent tragedies, such as Lincoln’s asbestos-related death, can happen anywhere. Often times it can be determined how the asbestos exposure during childhood happened and, in turn, an asbestos lawsuit for legal compensation can be filed on behalf of the mesothelioma victim or his surviving family.