Asbestos victims are remembered
Victims of asbestos cancer were remembered at a special service at Leicester Cathedral yesterday.
The service was held as part of the national Action Mesothelioma Day to raise awareness of the cancer and the dangers of exposure to asbestos.
-
Among those at the service was Pamela Howkins, whose husband, Jim, died from mesothelioma in January 2011.
Mrs Howkins, from Wigston, said: "I lost the best thing in my life – Jim – and if I can help save just one more life, by helping raise awareness of this disease, I feel I will have made a difference."
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Wednesday, May 22 2013
Mr Howkins, who had been a joiner in the prison service, was 70 when he died.
He had been diagnosed with mesothelioma five earlier.
Mrs Howkins said: "We had just had a party in July to celebrate our 70th birthdays when Jim developed a slight cough.
"A few days later he really wasn't well and went to the doctor who thought he had a bit of fluid on his lungs."
At the beginning of August, following an examination by experts at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital, the family heard the devastating diagnosis that Mr Howkins had mesothelioma.
"I have never been so gob-smacked," said Mrs Howkins. "I'd never even heard the word mesothelioma. And it was downhill from there.
"By November, Jim could hardly walk, but he was determined we should take our two youngest grand-daughters, who were three and four, to Disneyland Paris, and we managed it, even though he was in a wheelchair.
"Jim died in January last year. We were very close, we had known each other for 50 years and were married for 47 of them."
Mrs Howkins attended last year's mesothelioma service at Leicester Cathedral and a similar event in Derby.
She said: "I hope that by raising awareness about the dangers of exposure to asbestos we can help save lives."
More than 140 people were remembered at the service.
Lynda Thornton, from Countesthorpe, has been organising Action Mesothelioma Day since 2006. Her husband, Roger, died on July 3, 2004.
She said: "It's an important day and, in Roger's memory, it is important to raise awareness about mesothelioma."
Speakers at the service, led by the Rev Maggie Sharpe, included the Lord Mayor of Leicester, Councillor Abdul Osman, Professor Dean Fennell, from the University of Leicester, Joanne Gordon, from the Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team and Liz Darlison, from Mesothelioma UK.
People at the event were invited to write messages which were then hung on "reflection trees" in the cathedral.
Comments
by Grant2010
Monday, July 09 2012, 3:46PM
“Like fags the only safety feature is to protect them that hand over money. The filter protects them that pay the rest can pay with their lives. With asbestos the money is put into protecting those that produced and promote its use, the rest of us that suffer the consequence, can go to hell and back because they don't give a dam and never will unless we make them. Governments past and present, world wide, have all been bought off, this is disgraceful, in so called democratic countries where PM's etc. are elected and paid for through tax levies on ordinary people to represent their interest, not those of multi national that operate in a criminal manner, killing and not giving a dam in the full knowledge that they will not ever even face charges of manslaughter let alone murder. This is despite the fact that they have killed more than many mass murders.”
by disident3
Monday, July 09 2012, 9:23AM
“To add insult to injury, not only hidden asbestos but who in their right mind would build an Health Centre in the most air polluted area in the City. Yes the City councils own survey map marked the area. Although this was brought to the attention of the PCT the Council and the regeneration company they went ahead with the building perhaps a ticking time bomb for future children. Real caring people.”
by Rachel_Leics
Sunday, July 08 2012, 9:23PM
“Bless them all x”
by disident3
Sunday, July 08 2012, 5:51PM
“Now we come too. They said they had cleared the land for the PCT offices. Yet a couple of yards away between the PCT offices and an old peoples home is a large area of uncleared land. Now they know full well there is asbestos there and has been for years children play there, yet the Council have done nothing to make it safe. Now I believe the PCT offices or the Health Centre wish to buy the land as a car park. Who will pay this time. Last time they had £50 million to waste. I mean the land was council the prefabs were council so whose is the asbestos?? Of course we did inquire where the other asbestos went but they had a memory loss.”
by Grant2010
Sunday, July 08 2012, 10:56AM
“Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer disident3 trying to get to the bottom of anything do to with ASBESTOS is like trying to break into Fort Knox.”
by disident3
Saturday, July 07 2012, 12:09PM
“We often wonder what happened to the asbestos from the old prefabs on Hockley farm Road when they built the PCT offices there. It just vanished overnight. Although it was bulldozed into an heap no one was warned about the dangers and no one seems to know where it went. At the time the tip at Groby refused to allow it there as too dangerous. Thousands of pounds were wasted drilling for it when it laid on the surface for years. Criminal.”
by Grant2010
Saturday, July 07 2012, 11:16AM
“AND GOVERNMENTS (PAST AND PRESENT) ARE STILL HELL BENT ON RELAXING REGULATIONS PLUS MAKING IT EVEN MORE DIFFICULT FOR VICTIMS TO GET ANY COMPENSATION.
Can you imagine what would have been the reaction if 140 had been killed in those riots. Rightly the culprits would have been hounded and got little sympathy. We know the dangerous of asbestos and the culprits who produces it but in the main they will never be brought to justice”