Case study - Why is asbestos training important?

Brian Brough

Life changed dramatically for Brian Brough when he was diagnosed with asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in March 2010.

Brian Brough

Until the shock diagnosis he and his wife, Patricia, had been planning to spend their retirement doing what they loved – walking around Scotland.

But the five years he spent working with asbestos as a roofer in Chesterfield from 1959 means their dream will have to remain just that.

Brian, 70, said: "This disease has blighted us. We love walking and had decided to buy a motorhome. We just wanted to be able to up sticks when we wanted and go roaming around Scotland and the islands. There's no way we can do that now.

"This ugly thing has stopped me doing a lot. We used to walk three miles every morning in all weathers, even the snow. Now I do short distances and I'm ready to go home. I can't go fishing any more and I've had to give up my part-time job in the village hall.

Brian on holiday

“I can't go out if it's too sunny because the heat makes it worse. I get dehydrated and struggle to get my breath. Part of my lung is trapped under my rib – caused when they drained and then reinflated it. It aches 24 hours a day.”

But the mesothelioma hasn't just affected Brian. It has impacted on the whole family – wife Patricia, sons Darren, 45, Jason, 42, and Simon, 40 and the couple's seven grandchildren, aged two to 25.

Brian said: "Our sons were just numb when we told them. It's hit them hard but they've been very supportive. So has Patricia. She's the one who has got me through so far.

“As well as not being able to walk very far I don't have enough energy to give to my grandchildren either. The youngest, Cody, is nearly two. It saddens me that I can't play with him as much as he deserves but I also worry that Patricia is getting too tired because I can't do my bit.”

Patricia, 67, added: “It's had such a huge impact on our lives. If he's a bit quiet I worry if he's ok. I worry he's in pain. You just wonder what's going to happen next, how he's going to be affected next. It's so hard. You just can't do the things you used to or had planned to.”

Brian and Patricia's wedding day

Brian left school at 15 and went to work down the mines at Markham Colliery. At 19 he was offered a job as a roofer. As the job was better paid and outdoors he jumped at the chance and spent the next five years putting asbestos roofs on new buildings and replacing damaged asbestos sheeting on old buildings with new asbestos.

He said: “I knew it was asbestos but I never knew what it could do to you. No-one did. No-one ever mentioned there might be problems with it. There was nothing to protect us from it. I just wore my normal overalls and used my own tools from home. I only did it for five years but it was five years too long.”

In 2009 Brian developed a cough that wouldn't go away and started losing weight. Then one day while walking into town – something he did most days – he couldn't catch his breath. He went to see his doctor and following a biopsy was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

“When he told me what it was I just laughed. I'd never heard of it. I'd never smoked, Patricia had never smoked, so why had I got a lung cancer? I never thought the asbestos could have been the cause but thinking about it now, drilling into it, punching it, it would have released all the fibres.”

“I asked the doctor what the outcome would be and he gave me two months to seven years to live. I said I'd take the seven years.”

Brian, who with Patricia is looking forward to celebrating their golden wedding in 2013, has had four rounds of chemotherapy and now has three-monthly check-ups.

He is in no doubt that things would have turned out differently had he been made aware of the dangers of asbestos.

“My life would be 100 per cent different,” he said. "I would have taken any training that was offered, taken it all on board and I would have come though it OK.

Brian and Patricia Brough

“If I was to meet someone now I'd tell them to get themselves booked on one of the free training courses, make sure they get all the information they can and make sure they're given the right protective equipment and tools to do the job safely. People need to know there is help out there. Training's not expensive – it might even be free like through this Training Pledge initiative - and it could save your life.”

“Not many people have heard of mesothelioma. I make sure people know what it is and how I got it. If they tell someone else, and they tell someone else, the message gets out there and hopefully it will make people stop and think before working with asbestos.”

Patricia added: “If anyone works with asbestos, I'd tell them to speak to their boss to make sure they know the facts. People need to be aware that when someone in your family is diagnosed with mesothelioma it's not just them who's affected - it's the whole family. Something like this happens and that's it – your family's not complete any more.”

Brian would like to give special thanks to the Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team (DAST), based in Chesterfield, for their help and support during the early stages of his diagnosis, and to applaud them for their activities on Action Mesothelioma Day.