An annual event, Action Mesothelioma Day is held to raise awareness and to remember those who have suffered due to mesothelioma. Action Mesothelioma Day events were taking place up and down the UK, and our team were present at several of them.
Peter Williams attended HASAG's Action Mesothelioma Day event in Portsmouth. Instead of the usual white doves, butterflies were released in memory of those lost to mesothelioma. A raffle and a bake sale raised funds for further mesothelioma research and support. There were also several talks, including one from Mesothelioma UK Nurse Anne Moylan. HASAG raised £34,000 on Action Mesothelioma Day 2018; the most they have ever received during the event.
At Liverpool Town Hall, Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group and Cheshire Asbestos Victims Support Group came together alongside nearly one hundred mesothelioma sufferers and supporters to mark another year of struggle for justice and compensation, marked with the symbolic release of doves at noon, to commemorate the lost.
The audience heard addresses from John Flanagan of Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group (MAVSG), Professor Sir Anthony Newman-Taylor, Ray Nye (by DVD) and Marjorie Magee, Secretary of MAVSG, who spoke movingly about her late husband Jeff. Civic dignitaries including the Mayor were in attendance, together with pupils from a local primary school.
Andrew Morgan, Partner in Fieldfisher’s Asbestos Team, was in Liverpool for the event and said:
"It is touching to be present at this annual ceremony both here in Liverpool and at other sites across the country. Together we mark the scourge of asbestos and commemorate those we have lost. We also keep informed of developments in treatment and care and provide friendship, advice and support for those who confront this disease, either as sufferers or family, so that this is not a journey that must be faced alone."
Shaheen Mosquera attended Guy's and St Thomas' Memorial and Thanksgiving Service that was held for the patients and families affected by mesothelioma. Beverley Gillies, the wife of our client John Gillies, read a prayer and then the poem We Remember Them. John was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2015 after being exposed to asbestos when working as a carpenter in the 1970s for a major newspaper. Harry Steinberg QC, a leading asbestos barrister, gave a reading of John Keats' poem To Hope.
Shaheen also attended London Hazards' annual Action Mesothelioma Day event. As always, they had an excellent line up of speakers: John McClean, Chair of the Joint Union Asbestos Committee spoke about proposals for tackling asbestos in schools; Pete Farrell, Chair of the Construction Safety Campaign, spoke about seeing young men on a building site removing asbestos materials without taking any precautions and Bill Lawrence, member of the European Federation of Building & Woodworkers Asbestos Group, spoke about the global asbestos trade and link with the UK.
Rebecca Foster attended Action Mesothelioma Day in Chatham. In addition to the symbolic dove release in memory of those lost to mesothelioma, several speakers gave excellent talks.
Louise Gillham, a Mesothelioma UK Nurse, gave a speech regarding the development of treatment and services available for those suffering from mesothelioma and asbestos related diseases, while prominent mesothelioma warrior and campaigner Mavis Nye told her story of how she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, her treatment and how her cancer went into remission. Professor Bill Cookson of the National Mesothelioma Research Centre and Dr Tuck-Kay Loke, a consultant respiratory physician, also gave some very engaging and thought-provoking speeches about mesothelioma and asbestos related lung cancer.