Meso survivor ‘claims cured’
27 Aug 2008 by Wendi Lewis under News, PeopleA Minnesota woman is “claiming cured” after battling mesothelioma. Diagnosed in November 2005, Heather Von St. James, now 39, underwent surgery under the care of Dr. David Sugarbaker, who heads the acclaimed International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. Now nearly two years later, all traces of her cancer are gone, according to a story today in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Heather’s treatment included radical surgery to remove her left lung, the lining around her heart, half her diaphragm, her sixth rib, and a few lymph nodes, followed by a chemotherapy regimen every three weeks for 12 weeks. She now calls herself the “poster child for hope after meso.”
According to the Star-Tribune article, Dr. Sugarbaker is more guarded, although optimistic. The paper quotes him as saying, “right now in this present moment she is disease-free.”
Dr. Sugarbaker is arguably the leading mesothelioma physician in the U.S., and is largely credited with developing the surgical technique for mesothelioma resection and for recognizing the importance of a multimodality approach to treatment that combines surgery with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
The National Cancer Institute estimates about 2,000 cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. The disease has a long latency period of between 20 and 50 years, and it is unusual to find it in someone so young. Mesothelioma is linked only to asbestos exposure, so its victims are traditionally people who work in asbestos mining or come into contact with asbestos through other occupational exposure.
In Heather’s case, her mesothelioma is most likely due to secondhand exposure, from asbestos on her father’s work clothes. The Star-Tribune reports that Heather’s dad, Rollie Rosedahl, was a construction laborer who often worked with asbestos-containing products. Heather says she often wore her father’s jacket and boots when he’d come in from work.
The National Cancer Institute says that asbestos related disease like mesothelioma and asbestosis can occur in people with only brief exposures, and that there is evidence that family members of workers exposed to asbestos face an increased risk of developing mesothelioma.
