Grandpa’s Mesothelioma

oldmansick My grandfather passed away recently due to a terrible cancer called “mesothelioma.” He was exposed to asbestos in a police station he worked at before it was known exactly how dangerous asbestos really are. It turns out that several of the employees in my Grandpa’s work (including my grandfather) were exposed to asbestos in the building, and many decades later, after the building was destroyed and a new station was built, they were all diagnosed with the deadly lung cancer mesothelioma.

My grandfather was a joyful man during my childhood, one of the nicest men you would ever meet, but I have this terrible memory of him becoming very bitter during his illness. I think he felt betrayed by the people he had worked for all those years. I think that was the worst part of it for me, watching how it stole the joy from his life. He created a distance with the rest of the family during his final months, and grew increasingly ill before he passed. I always try to remember him fondly, and remember him the way he was before he became a mesothelioma patient.

My grandfather gave up on radiation therapy and chemotherapy early in his later years. He often went in for massage therapy to assist with pain associated with mesothelioma, but I have learned a lot more about other alternative methods of coping with the disease since he passed away. Hypnosis, acupuncture, and the use of certain vitamins and herbs (i.e. Vitamin C, Vitamin B12) are said to reduce the symptoms and help prolong life. Obviously, these facts are not confirmed by the FDA, but if you or a loved one is suffering, I recommend you at least try these alternative medicines. I hope that they soon find a cure for this illness.

I hope my story inspires others to share their experiences with mesothelioma, certainly it’s a cathartic experience to place the words out here in the open, and I hope it can help the rest of you in some small way to know that you are not alone in dealing with this.