Bob became ill in May 2006 and was diagnosed with mesothelioma July 31, 2006. He passed away only two months later.

“We as a family had never heard of Mesothelioma, which is caused by exposure to asbestos,” Bob’s daughter Christine writes on the web site. “It took all this time for the disease to take its toll. Apparently asbestos takes the slowest route around the body, which is why sufferers have no symptoms for years or even decades after being exposed.”

They discovered Bob, a resident of Eastbourne, had worked with asbestos in his job doing gas conversions when natural gas was piped to homes in 1973-74.

On Sept. 29, 2007, the family held its first Charity Day, which featured a golf tournament, auction, raffle and disco, which raised £1,403 in Bob’s memory. On Sept. 20, 2008, the second Charity Day event raised £3,200! The money raised supports the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund and The British Lung Foundation.

“By setting up this fund, we can remember a very special person, who was a loving husband, dad, granddad and friend,” Christine says. “He will never be forgotten. We want thoughts of him to raise a smile and a laugh. That is what he would have wanted and that is the sort of man he was.”

You can contact the Bob Tolley Mesothelioma Snowdrop Fund at 180 Ashford Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 3UA; telephone 01323 649220 or email millietalula@supanet.com or Chris@nimaprint.co.uk.

SOURCE: myMeso › Family establishes mesothelioma fund in UK