In the world of mesothelioma, we are so often surrounded by bad news, it is especially exciting to hear something good. Today I can share some of the BEST news. Those of you familiar with this site are familiar with Heather Von St. James, whose story we featured on this site. After being diagnosed with mesothelioma, Heather chose to have an extrapleural pneumonectomy, in which the affected lung, as well as part of her diaphragm and a rib were removed. Heather reports that her latest scans in Boston have come out clean and clear!

She was so excited, she posted the above photo on her Facebook page, and also allowed us to share it with you here, to let all her friends and fans see how well she is. Also, this scan provides a glimpse of what a body looks like after the extrapleural pneumonectomy, with only one lung. This is from her CT scan, done Nov. 3, 2009.

In the photo below, you can tell from her face and the enthusiastic “thumbs up” that she’s relieved and happy with these latest results.

We are ecstatic to see that Heather continues to be cancer free, healthy and strong! We love you, Heather, and pray for your continued good health!

Our friend Heather Von St. James, who lives in Minnesota and who recently celebrated her third anniversary of being cancer free after undergoing a pleural pneumonectomy to treat her mesothelioma, recently lost a friend to this disease. On Sept. 2, she posted the following beautiful essay on her Facebook page, dedicated to the memory of her friend Lonna. She gave me permission to share this here, and I thought it appropriate for the week leading up to Mesothelioma Awareness Day.

“So as I sit here today… another senseless death due to this horrible disease has happened, and another is near… two beautiful, bright and amazing women succumbing to a disease they got because of exposure to a substance that kills… and has not been banned. There is no more innocent victim than a mesothelioma victim….Someone told me that one time.. and the more people I know that are dying from this.. the more I believe it. Because someone hugged someone who worked with asbestos and had it on their clothes, they are now paying the ultimate price… their life.

I’ve said it before… Cancer is a weird thing… a true double edged sword… I know my life would not be what it is today had I not gotten sick with mesothelioma… I know that the people that have come into my life in the last 4 years would not have been a part of my life had I not gotten sick… On one hand… I have to deal daily with the fear that “IT” might come back… I don’t dwell on that fear, but it is an underlying current to every ache, pain and uncomfortable feeling I have that I can’t explain… My last stint in the hospital proved just that… My mind immediately went there… what if “IT” is back? On the other hand.. I would not be home to raise my daughter, and I would not have gotten to know so many of the amazing people in my life that I have… nor would I appreciate the small things. I do a lot of praying.. and even more during those times. My doc out in Boston told me after my 1st post surgery check up to go home.. and LIVE LIFE… just go on and live.. don’t let the diagnosis get in the way of living your life. Maybe he knows something I don’t… Having to face this illness every day with as many people as he does.. So I have done just that… despite the aches and pains that are with me every day.. I live my life.

When I know that others are suffering from this disease after fighting it so hard ,for so long, it just breaks my heart… Today, in honor of Lonna.. I am buying daisies…her favorite flower, I am going to have bouquets of them around my home and in them I will see her smile.. hear her gentle voice.. and in their simple beauty I will once again remember to live my life.

The circle of life continues on…. one passes, another is born… Kristi is going to have her baby any minute now. That simple joy of a baby doesn’t bring anyone back, but it brings hope… hope of a new, bright life. Despite the tragedy of losing so many friends and loved ones to this disease, I continue my hope that there will be a cure. Not just for this type of cancer, but for all cancers…. This month is Childhood cancer awareness month… Sept 26th is Mesothelioma Awareness Day… October is breast cancer awareness month… There are too many cancers, not enough months or days to be aware of them all… i just know what I am able to do in my little part of the world..and that is bring hope and joy to those around me… and live my life to the fullest… To remember my vow to be positive, and NOT live in the fear of “it” coming back…. I have my whole long life ahead of me to enjoy and I intend to do that.. and today I reaffirm that vow… Thank you God for every day that I have, for every day truly IS a blessing, and don’t for one minute take it for granted.. it can all change in a blink of an eye…

God bless you Lonna on the next step in your journey,I am blessed to have known you…”

An interview published Sunday, April 5, by the Boston Globe featured an interview with popular country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus, and his daughter Miley Cyrus, who is probably more famous now than her father was in his heyday. Billy Ray is known to a generation of 1980s country music fans for his hit single “Achy Breaky Heart” but is probably better known among a younger generation of teens and ‘tweens simply as the father of their idol, Disney superstar Miley Cyrus, of the network’s “Hannah Montana” series.

Discussing the atmosphere of celebrity in which Miley grew up, as the daughter of a performer, the interview veers off to mention Billy Ray’s roots as the son of a steelworker father, Ron Cyrus, who went on to serve 21 years in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Almost offhandedly, the story mentions that Ron Cyrus passed away of mesothelioma, which he almost certainly contracted through his exposure to asbestos in the mills.

Perhaps the paper felt this tidbit was relevant to its Boston audience because the elder Mr. Cyrus visited Boston for treatment of his mesothelioma, and son Billy Ray wrote a colorful country tune, “I Want My Mullet Back,” in honor of a former Red Sox baseball player. In his day, Billy Ray was famous for his own long mullet haircut, a style cropped short on top and sides but long in the back (“business in the front, party in the back”).

The mention of mesothelioma seems random, but there’s more to the story.

Ron Cyrus passed away on February 28, 2006. He had served in the Kentucky House of Representatives for Kentucky’s 98th Legislative District, beginning in 1975, and was elected to 11 consecutive terms before retiring in 1996. He was 70 years old when he passed away, and old reports from that time list his cause of death simply as “lung cancer.”

In March 2006, at the end of its regular session, both houses of the Kentucky State Legislature observed a moment of silence in honor of Ron Cyrus’s passing.

But now, in its 2009 session, the Kentucky legislature is once again recognizing the issue of mesothelioma and asbestos awareness, and, along with it, Ron Cyrus.

First, on Feb. 6, Representative Ancel Smith and Rep. Sannie Overly introduced HR95, a resolution to recognize September 26 as National Mesothelioma Awareness Day, as designated by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF) and supported by U.S. Congressional resolution.

HR95 was established in Kentucky to honor “those who have fallen victim to this disease in the Commonwealth” and names “former legislator Ron Cyrus; Todd Hall, a bright, young University of Kentucky graduate who had started a successful business; [and] Allen Conley, a naval architect and marine engineer exposed to asbestos in the Yorktown, Virginia Naval shipbuilding yards…”

The resolution was adopted in the House by voice vote on Feb. 9.

Then, on Feb. 23, HB519 was introduced in the Kentucky House of Representatives, sponsored by Representatives Ancel Smith, Keith Hall,  Tom Burch, Leslie Combs, Ted Edmonds, Jeff Greer and Brent Housman. The Act would designate Sept. 26 of each year as Mesothelioma Awareness Day in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and would be known as “The Ron Cyrus and Todd Hall Mesothelioma Awareness Act of 2009.”

The bill passed the house by a vote of 97-0 on March 10, with 3 not voting.

The bill was introduced in the Senate designated as SB58, sponsored by Johnny Ray Turner, where it passed unanimously by a vote of 36-0 on March 3.

Read SB58.

Read HB519.

Read House Resolution 95.

Regular readers of this site will no doubt remember the incredible story of Heather Von St. James that we shared not long ago. Heather was diagnosed with mesothelima just over three years ago, at the young age of 36, shortly after having a baby, daughter Lily Rose.

Stunned by the diagnosis and it’s bleak prognosis, Heather decided to undergo a radical surgery pioneered by Dr. David J. Sugarbaker at the International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass. The procedure involved removing the tumor, pleura, part of her diaphragm, and her left lung.

The surgery was scheduled for Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, but Heather’s sister Danna promply dubbed the day “Lung Leavin’ Day.”

Heather’s surgery was a success, and she holds fast to the belief that she is cured. On the first anniversary of the surgery, she decided to have a party to celebrate life and hope. And the Lung Leavin’ Day annual celebration was born!

Heather, along with family and friends, commemorates the day with a huge bonfire. They write their fears on plates with a Sharpie marker and smash the plates into the fire in a symbolic releasing of those concerns.

The event has grown from a few close family members to include more than 40 people this year, on Saturday, Feb. 7, date of the Third Annual Lung Leavin’ Day.

Even if you can’t travel to Heather’s home in Minnesota to join the party, she encourages families battling meso and fellow survivors to use the day as an opportunity to celebrate life and to face the future with courage and optimism.

“I would love it if people all over celebrated with us,” she says. “They can do something as simple as raising a toast to health or dancing around a fire and plate breaking! Whatever you want to put in!”

The official celebration begins at 6 p.m. Central Time. I’m planning to definitely raise a glass and think of everyone I’ve met here through this web site, and all those I haven’t yet but who are struggling in their own fight against mesothelioma. There is so much hope, there are so many wonderful stories of success in this fight.

I know that together we can beat this cancer!

Lung Leavin’ Day! WOOT!

As he lay dying of mesothelioma in a Miami area intensive care unit, successful attorney, Democratic Party activist and philanthropist Milton M. Ferrell, Jr., recorded a video deposition against asbestos manufacturers, according to a report in the Miami Herald. Ferrell passed away just a little over 15 hours later, on Saturday, Nov. 15.

Recorded with literally his last breaths, the video deposition names the Big Three automakers, along with specific brake manufacturers, accusing them of marketing “unreasonably dangerous” products and failing to warn people about the asbestos danger inherent in the products, the Herald reports. According to the paper, Ferrell worked on automobiles as a young man, and it is suspected he inhaled asbestos fibers while working on brakes.

Ferrell, who was listed among the country’s top 100 attorneys in 2006, began suffering what his wife described as “flu-like symptoms” about two years ago, the Herald reports. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in Spring 2008 and had his left lung removed in May. But the cancer spread to his brain, stomach, hip and his right lung. He rejected pain medication on his deathbed in order to record his deposition, according to the Herald.

Among his achievements, he founded his own firm, Ferrell Law, with offices in Miami and New York. Active in Democratic politics, he was a major fundraiser for President Bill Clinton and served as John Kerry’s Florida finance chairman in 2004 during Kerry’s bid for the White House.

Funeral services are set for Friday, Nov. 21, at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Miami. The family requests in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Ferrell is survived by his wife Lori, son Morgan and daughter Whitney.

It has been three years since Heather Von St. James chose a radical surgical treatment following her mesothelioma diagnosis. Just 36 years old at the time of the diagnosis, Heather is an anomaly in many ways in the world of meso – she’s female, and she is very young. The average meso patient is older, usually around age 60 or older, and male.

Heather also is unusual in that she is a survivor. Mesothelioma is a deadly disease, very often killing its victims within two years of diagnosis. This is partly because meso can be hard to diagnose, and is often mistaken for pneumonia or other minor ailments, until it is caught late, at an advanced stage, too late to treat effectively. There is no known cure.

A persistent fever, fatigue, and a heaviness in her chest prompted Heather to visit the doctor two months after the birth of her daughter, Lily, in August 2005. She knew her symptoms were not related to the usual exhaustion of new motherhood. By Nov. 21 Heather was diagnosed with mesothelioma, and less than a month after her diagnosis Heather was in Boston at the International Mesothelioma Program (IMP). Two months later she completed surgery, an extrapleural pneumonectomy, to remove her tumor and her left lung.

She believes that God had a hand in the quick diagnosis and treatment, allowing her to battle her mesothelioma before it was able to advance.

“I am not the norm,” she acknowledges. “Too many people die from this disease – young, old, everything in between. But more people are surviving it now. We are out there. And I think that needs to be out there more.”

Heather understands that when she tells people she is cured – a diagnosis her doctor, Dr. David J. Sugarbaker, who pioneered the mesothelioma program at IMP, cannot officially confirm – it makes some people angry. But, she says, she has to make her own choices, and part of her recovery is believing that the meso is gone for good.

“Life is a death sentence, and we all get so caught up in the death part of it. [Having meso], it’s like you sort of know your chariot home. It was sort of an eye-opener for me,” she says. “But it also made me really want to stay. I have a baby daughter. I am not ready to stop being a Mom to her. I am not anywhere near ready to go. What got me through a lot of dark times was my relationship with the Lord, and my positive attitude.”

She is eager to share her story, as much to give hope to other mesothelioma patients as to raise awareness and support for a cure.

“There is the 80 percent that don’t make it, but there is the 20 percent that does. That statistic is there for a reason, because it’s true,” she says.

Heather regularly attends new patient orientation at IMP when she returns to Boston for her check-ups, looking for the opportunity to meet other mesothelioma patients and their families. She hopes she can answer their questions, help calm fears, and provide a sense of hope.

“I’m the face of ‘after.’ That’s still rare. I want to talk to patients, to give them hope.”

A full-time social worker and two chaplains work at IMP, and there are regular support groups each week for families and patients, both while they are at IMP for surgery, and when they return for follow-up visits. Heather also attends these meetings when she is in Boston.

Additionally, last October Heather was a special guest speaker at an annual symposium hosted by Dr. Sugarbaker for IMP supporters, physicians and researchers.

“Researchers never see the real people that all these cells they’re working on are attached to. Dr. Sugarbaker wanted to give a face to all these cells,” Heather said.

Heather and her family also hold their own annual celebration on Feb. 2, the date of her surgery, dubbed Lung Leavin’ Day by her sister, Danna.

On the first anniversary of her surgery, she and her husband Cameron built a huge bonfire. Cameron collected two plates and a Sharpie marker, and they wrote their fears on the plates, then smashed them into the fire. Danna and her husband, Wayne, had their own Lung Leavin’ Day celebration at their home in Portland at the same time, in solidarity.

Last year, on the second Lung Leavin’ Day, more than 40 friends and relatives gathered to celebrate Heather’s health.

“It’s a celebration of life,” she says. “That’s the day when my life started over. My cancer was gone.”

Heather is exploring volunteer and outreach opportunities in Minnesota, where mesothelioma is literally an epidemic, responsible for the deaths of nearly 60 taconite miners in its Iron Range, and affecting dozens more. In April, the Minnesota State Legislature approved nearly $5 million for a study of the Iron Range and mesothelioma.

In another tie to her home state, the current bill before the House of Representatives that would finally call for a complete ban of asbestos in the United States is named after late Minnesota Congressman Bruce Vento, who died of mesothelioma in 2000. The Bruce Vento Ban Asbestos and Prevent Mesothelioma Act of 2008 is currently before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

As a result of these two issues, people in Minnesota are perhaps more aware of mesothelioma than most other places in the U.S. Heather hopes to do what she can to continue to expand the message, with the hope of saving more lives through awareness, outreach and fund raising for a cure.

“I know I’m here for a reason,” she says. “[Other cancers] get so much attention and funding. Why can’t we have a 3-day walk for mesothelioma? It needs to be out there. We’re just going to see more and more of this disease.”

In the meantime, Heather concentrates on staying healthy for her daughter, Lily, whom she calls a “fourth generation flower.” Heather’s grandmother was Rose, and her mom is Violet. So she claims cured, and counts her miracles, and keeps the fear at bay while she builds that garden.

You can contact Heather Von St. James through email at red7ro7r@hotmail.com or call her at 651-330-3614. She welcomes calls from mesothelioma patients and families.

After being diagnosed with mesothelioma Nov. 21, 2005 at the age of 36, Heather Von St. James chose an aggressive new surgical treatment developed by Dr. David J. Sugarbaker at the International Mesothelioma Program (IMP), based at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The surgery, an extrapleural pneumonectomy, would involve the removal of Heather’s lung, pleura, pericardium and diaphragm. She was accepted into the program and made her first visit for evaluation Dec. 12. Her surgery was scheduled for Feb. 2, 2006 – Groundhog Day, which would be forever after renamed among Heather’s family as “Lung Leavin’ Day.”

Returning home to Roseville, Minn., just before Christmas, Heather quit her job to spend as much time as possible with her 3-month-old daughter, Lily, and husband Cameron before the surgery. The little girl would stay with Heather’s parents in South Dakota for the month that would encompass a period of surgery and initial recovery.

“That was really hard,” Heather says. “I basically missed her whole sixth month of life. I was really glad I had taken the time off to just be ‘Mom’ before my surgery. But at least I knew she was in very capable, wonderful hands. That was a great load off my mind.”

She and Cameron returned to Boston in February.

The surgery took about seven hours, and included the removal of the tumor, pleura, part of her diaphragm, and her left lung. Dr. Sugarbaker also had to remove Heather’s sixth rib to access the area.

Once the tumor was removed, Dr. Sugarbaker pumped a heated chemotherapy solution into Heather’s chest cavity, which circulated for about an hour, she says. The solution came into contact with the areas where the tumor had touched, in an effort to destroy cancerous cells and prevent regrowth. This unique procedure, called intracavitary chemotherapy, is a recent innovation of the IMP.

According to IMP information, intracavitary chemotherapy allows chemotherapeutic agents like cisplatin to be administered at much higher doses than if administered systemically (through the bloodstream). To protect healthy cells, a “cytoprotective” agent is administered intravenously while the patient is in the operating room. This groundbreaking therapy has only recently completed Phase I of evaluation, with Phase II studies currently ongoing.

Following the surgery, Heather remained in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for three days, and then another “step down” unit after that for 15 more days before being released to a home near the medical center.

Immediately after the surgery, tests indicated Heather was experiencing some renal failure. She says that is one of the risks of this surgery, as a result of the intense and prolonged exposure to the chemotherapy and other medications used during the procedure. She asked her husband, Cameron, to begin a prayer chain to ask for the healing of her kidneys. If they deteriorated, she would have to deal with dialysis while recovering. By the morning, her kidneys were functioning normally.

“I believe in miracles,” she says. “I believe God had a hand in all of this – my fast diagnosis that allowed me to get treatment right away, finding Dr. Sugarbaker and this program, getting into Boston fast, good results of the surgery.”

She says her faith is hard for some people to understand in light of an illness as serious as mesothelioma.

“People give me a hard time. They say if I have faith, why do all this, why go through this surgery? Why not let God heal you?” she says. “But God doesn’t just put a finger in you and say, ‘tah-dahhh!’ He provided the doors for me to go through. That’s my view, that God opened all those doors for me. Then I’m pulling out all the stops, and doing what I have to do. I’m doing my part.”

Heather’s sister came out to Boston for two weeks to help take care of her while Cameron returned to Minnesota to work. On March 2, Heather was able to leave Boston, and spent two months in South Dakota with her parents and Lily.

“I couldn’t take care of Lily on my own, but I wanted to be with her, so bad,” Heather says.

Beginning in May 2006, Heather completed four sessions of chemotherapy and 30 sessions of radiation, which she said was extremely difficult. Now she travels to Boston every 4-6 months for a CT scan, and has regular blood work at an oncologist near her home in Minnesota. So far, there is no evidence of the tumor or any regrowth.

Heather calls herself cured, although she readily admits that Dr. Sugarbaker cannot confirm that.

“He can’t. He just can’t say he’s got a ‘cure’ for mesothelioma, not at this point,” she explains. “But it’s my coping mechanism. I can’t say I’m in remission because that suggests the possibility that it might come back. This is a mental way of keeping the fear at bay. It’s a daily battle, because the fear can totally overwhelm you. I can’t do that with a 3-year-old. I choose to believe I’m cured.”

Part 3: Keeping the Faith

Heather Von St. James knew having a baby was a physically taxing experience, but the weeks of exhaustion, night sweats, and constant fever following the birth of her daughter, Lily Rose, in August 2005, just didn’t seem right. She was only 36; she ought to bounce back faster than this, she thought.

Within two weeks, the Roseville, Minn., resident visited nearby St. Paul for a checkup. Because of the fever, combined with a feeling of pressure in her chest that made breathing labored, doctors suspected a virus affecting Heather’s heart.

They ordered a chest x-ray, which showed fluid around the lung, so they sent her to the hospital for a thoracentesis to drain the fluid. During that procedure, they found a liter of fluid around her lung. Concerned, they sent Heather for a CT scan to find out where the fluid was coming from and what was causing it. The test revealed a tumor on the pleura. When they tested cells and fluid from around the lung, they were stunned by the diagnosis of mesothelioma.

Not quite believing this disease could affect such a young woman, they sent the samples to the Mayo Clinic for a second opinion. On Nov. 21, 2005, Heather got confirmation – she had mesothelioma. Even the Mayo Clinic physicians had only heard of one other woman Heather’s age with meso.

Mesothelioma has traditionally been seen in older men, usually with a background of working in a factory, shipyard, mine or other environment with heavy asbestos exposure. Today, however, more and more cases of secondary exposure are being diagnosed. Family members who receive only relatively minimal exposure through contact with clothing or other items dusted with asbestos are developing meso.

Heather’s dad worked around asbestos, as a fireman, and also in construction work, where he did remodeling and renovations. A self-proclaimed “Daddy’s Girl,” Heather figures she was exposed to asbestos in the dust on his clothing.

“That’s what ticks me off,” she says. “(Manufacturers) knew what [asbestos] did, (they) knew what it was. But they didn’t tell anyone.”

Heather, with her husband Cameron at her side, was given three choices for dealing with her diagnosis – do nothing, with an expectation of living about 15 months; pursue traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatments, with a life expectancy of about 5 years; or take a risk on a bold groundbreaking surgery at the International Mesothelioma Program (IMP) in Boston.

They decided to take the risk, and were in Boston by Dec. 12 to meet with Dr. David J. Sugarbaker, who has pioneered the treatment of mesothelioma at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital. The surgery, an extrapleural pneumonectomy, would involve the removal of Heather’s lung, pleura, pericardium and diaphragm.

At IMP, Heather and Cameron attended a new-patient orientation, and met two other families facing the diagnosis of mesothelioma. Both of the other patients were men, aged 72 and 80.

“It was really hard to be there. It was so surreal, having just had a baby four months earlier, and now I’m in Boston talking about going through this major, major surgery, talking to these men who worked around asbestos,” Heather says.

As part of the initial visit and evaluation, Heather underwent surgical biopsies on the tumor and on her esophagus, so that doctors could check for lymph node involvement.

Heather and Cameron returned home to spend a worried Christmas with their new baby while they waited for the results of the biopsies. The tests reconfirmed the mesothelioma diagnosis and revealed that the tumor was localized on the left part of her lung, on the pleura. Thankfully, the lymph nodes were clear.

Surgery was scheduled for Feb. 2 – Groundhog Day. Heather promptly nicknamed her tumor Punxsutawney Phil, after the famous weather-predicting groundhog, and joked with her surgeons that if her tumor saw its shadow would she have six more weeks of recovery? Her sister renamed the holiday Lung Leavin’ Day.

Shoring up her courage with humor, Heather set her mind on a positive outcome. She was not ready to leave this world.

Next: Part II – Surgery & Recovery

A 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.

I was very sad today to learn that Rear Admiral Phil Coady, U.S. Navy (Ret.) passed away yesterday, June 30. Admiral Coady served as Chairman of the Board for the Lung Cancer Alliance, and was kind enough to share his story with this blog in April. A non-smoker, Coady was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in 2005. The diagnosis spurred him to advocacy, particularly on behalf of Veterans.

Although Coady didn’t suffer from mesothelioma, he was very much aware of the risks posed by asbestos. His work during his time in the Navy very often put him in contact with the substance, he said, and seven of his friends died from mesothelioma since his retirement. In addition, for 10 years following his retirement, Coady worked as president of the Navy Mutual Aid Association, a non-profit veterans benefit group and life insurance service, where he said he saw what he thought was a disproportionate amount of lung cancer deaths.

When he began investigating lung cancer research efforts, Adm. Coady was shocked at the relatively few dollars spent by the Veterans Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense, considering the number of veterans affected by the disease. He also was disappointed at the overall lack of funding for lung cancer research in comparison to spending on other cancers, especially since lung cancer is the leading cancer killer.

He dedicated himself as Chairman of the Board for the Lung Cancer Alliance, fighting the battle for lung cancer awareness and funding under the organization’s motto “No More Excuses. No More Lung Cancer.” He led efforts in lobbying Congress to make lung cancer a national health priority.

Just last week, Coady saw some of the first fruits of his efforts, when Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate creating and authorizing at least $75 million for lung cancer research. This is the first ever multi-agency, comprehensive program targeted at reducing lung cancer mortality.

Perhaps the best memoriam Adm. Coady could receive is for supporters of lung cancer awareness and research to contact their U.S. Senators NOW and ask them to add their support to S. 3187, the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act. Remember him and take action for those to come after him! You can view his obituary here.

Blessings to Adm. Coady’s family at this time of loss.