September 26 – National Mesothelioma Awareness Day

Each year September 26 is recognized as National Mesothelioma Awareness Day.  In 2004 the Meso Foundation celebrated the first Awareness Day to heighten the public’s knowledge of mesothelioma: what it is, what causes it and who is at danger.  The day also lets the public know about on-going research and how they can help find a cure.

Ward Black Law represents clients exposed to asbestos and diagnosed with any one of several asbestos-related diseases.  Mesothelioma is the most deadly of the possibilities.  Unfortunately, most every client that we are handling for mesothelioma specifically has passed away already from the disease.  We are representing their families in the class action suits instead.

The following “Talking Points” are borrowed from the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation website at www.curemeso.org.  Please access this website for up-to-date information about the disease, treatment and research.

1)    “Medical experts consider Mesothelioma one of the most aggressive of all cancers. The latency period from exposure to onset of symptoms can be up to 50 years.”
2)    “For decades the need for research to develop effective treatments has been mostly ignored. Today, mesothelioma has only one approved treatment that extends average survival by three months.”
3)    “While basic understanding of the cell biology is progressing, there have been few breakthroughs in the early detection or treatment of this deadly cancer. As a result, the median survival rate for patients diagnosed with mesothelioma is only about twelve months.”
4)    “Funding for research is key to the development of new treatments and learning how to target the appropriate patient care.”
5)    “Expect to see many Mesothelioma diagnoses in the coming years due to exposure by national crises such as September 11, where the twin towers had large amounts of asbestos fireproofing, so all of the first responders risk exposure. Hurricane Katrina also spread large amounts of asbestos, exposing both victims and those helping with clean up.”
6)    “Contaminated vermiculite can still be found in 35 million attics in the United States today.”
7)    “Asbestos has not been banned in the United States. Both the House and Senate tried to pass legislation banning asbestos as recently as 2007 but did not succeed.”
8)    “There is an established history of asbestos exposure in military service, and elevated risk of mesothelioma in the military population. Approximately one third of mesothelioma cases have been shown to involve exposures to Navy personnel or civilian workers in our nation’s shipyards.1”

Although mesothelioma is being called to the attention of the general public on September 26, the attorneys and staff of Ward Black Law are working every day on behalf of our clients and their families to seek at least financial justice for their illnesses and suffering.  We have worked with many of these people for many years and have grown close to them so that we feel their pain and their losses over time.  We pray that laws will be passed and cures found to prevent future cancers, especially mesothelioma.

For more information and the opportunity to donate to mesothelioma research, go to www.mesocure.org.  If we can help you or a loved one who already suffers from prolonged exposure to asbestos, please contact us at 1- 877-256-1214 or click here.

1 Butnor, Sharma, Sporn, Roggli: Malignant mesothelioma and occupational exposure to asbestos: an analysis of 1445 cases. Ann Occup Hyg 2002; 46: 150‐153.

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