Wednesday, January 27, 2016

We say farewell to 2 Aussie warriors who have lost their lives to deadly mesothelioma.

You are a wonderful teacher of life. You remind me that ...
The above verse is so true!  My beautiful friend Linda Reinstein Co-Founder at Global Ban Asbestos Network (GBAN) and Co-Founder/CEO at Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) wrote this on my timeline/facebook page today.

I always look for rainbows and for stars in life!  All we have is the moment we are in!  Most people when they are younger think they have their life ahead of them ... it is true however when you are faced with an aggressive cancer such as mesothelioma, death stares back at you every day and you live life in the moment of time!  I don't plan too much in the future because I do not know what it holds for me and to be honest, I have come to accept this and just live my life enjoying each and every day.  I look for the rainbows in each day and the stars when darkness such as tonight of the passing of 2 beautiful warriors who have lost their life to asbestos greed.  Both Aussies living with mesothelioma, their pain and suffering has come to an end and they are now resting in peace - their lives cut short thanks to deadly mesothelioma.  Their families are torn apart - they have to live without their loved ones/their soulmates, dads, grandfathers ... . 

Nothing halts mesothelioma in its tracks .... yes treatment is all palliative ... surgery, chemo, radiation and now immunotherapy all help to keep it at bay for a little while, shrinkage of tumours and stability we aim for and quality of life while living with mesothelioma.  However when it rears its ugly head and takes a hold their is no stopping it!  It is brutal, aggressive, painful and deadly.

Keytruda has shown promise with mesothelioma and other rare cancers, so why is it so hard to get it fast tracked on to our PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) in Australia?  It has shown that it can work in melanoma cancer and has been on the PBS since September 2015 for this cancer only.  In America it has been approved on the FDA for lung cancer ... surely mesothelioma is the next step forward for Keytruda to be approved!  My petition with over 7,000 signatures is gaining momentum and my appointment with the health minister, the Honourable Sussan Ley is about to take place.  The next step is getting MSD (Merck) to make an application to PBAC for Keytruda to be approved by the health minister for the PBS.  IT WILL HAPPEN SOON!!

My heart goes out to those families who have lost their loved ones to mesothelioma.  To Peter and Pete's families my heart is with you.  

To others living with mesothelioma and who are not doing too well at the moment - big hugs coming your way.

Lou

email eradicateasbestos@gmail.com
#mesothelioma53





Thursday, January 21, 2016

Western Australian man caught dumping asbestos illegally fined!

20 January 2016 as reported by Channel 9 News, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/01/20/19/02/food-receipt-helps-nab-wa-asbestos-dumper

A fast food receipt has led to a Perth man being fined $10,000 for illegally dumping fencing containing asbestos at Korung National Park.
Samuel Michael Gossage, 27, was identified after Department of Environment regulation investigators found a fast food receipt at the dumping site and cross-checked the time of purchase with the eatery's drive-through security cameras.  Investigators also checked footage from an onsite concealed camera that captured the incident in June last year.
Gossage was fined this week in Armadale Magistrates Court and was also ordered to pay $1284 in clean-up costs and $660 in court costs.

Lou's comment:  Excellent detective work by Department of Environment and following up with heavy fines.  Hopefully this will be the start of more dumpers who illegally dispose of asbestos waste being caught, fined and possible jail sentences if appropriate!  These dumpers are exposing many innocent people to asbestos fibres when they break down and become airborne.  They also have no regard for the health of the general public nor their own health.  They think that they will get away with the dumping and save expensive costs of disposing the asbestos waste legally.
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21 January 2016, Liverpool, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-20/asbestos-contamination-fears-at-serbian-club-in-liverpool/7102404

Liverpool community fears asbestos contamination from illegal landfill.
A Serbian leader says he is worried about the health of his community members after asbestos was found near a cultural club in Liverpool local government area in south-western Sydney.
David Milovanovic, president of the St Sava Serbian Club in Middleton Grange, told the ABC he had received an email notifying them of soil containing asbestos material on a public property along Hall Circuit.
Last year, the ABC reported the EPA was investigating up to 15 sites that could be affected by the contaminated fill, which could have come from Liverpool Council's soil storage facility, the Western Depot at Kemps Creek.
Liverpool councillors passed a motion at an extraordinary meeting in November 2015 to provide medical checks for staff who believe they may have been affected by the contaminated fill.
Mr Milovanovic said he was shocked that there was asbestos in the area.
He said the club had not mowed its lawns for more than four months due to asbestos fears.
"There were rumours of asbestos in the area, so we were concerned," Mr Milovanovic said.
He said the club had suffered financially due to the contamination because they were planning to hold a community festival at the club at the end of January.
"We will have to hold it on the concrete which means we can't fit as many people as before," he said.
"Now we're a little bit afraid if it was contaminated that we may have unknowingly exposed kids.
"On a weekly basis we get between 100 to 150 people, we also host functions for multicultural communities that surround the club, which has between 500 to 600 people."
Mr Milovanovic said he needed support from Liverpool Council and local authorities.
"We can't afford the expensive tests, to test the soil or land around it," he said.
Liverpool Council CEO Carl Wulff said in a statement to the ABC that the asbestos near the Serbian club was dumped illegally.
"The illegally dumped material, located on the corner of Stante Close and Hall Circuit, will be removed immediately after Sydney Water works are completed," Mr Wulff said.
"There is no danger to guests or employees of the club, as the material is covered, not airborne and will be removed by experts."

EPA continuing to investigate the contamination

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) told the ABC the investigation is continuing into the 15 council work sites.

"In relation to each site under investigation, the EPA has directed the council to make them safe, communicate with any neighbours and remediate them," an EPA spokesperson said.
Liverpool Councillor Peter Ristevski said there were potentially more areas of soil surrounding the club which could be contaminated.
"It's just not one area, they're actually surrounded by soil that could or could not be contaminated," he said.
"They definitely need answers now, if there is a contaminated section there, I'm sure it is contaminated as well."
Cr Ristevski said the council needed to be more proactive to manage the overall asbestos issue.

Asbestos campaigner calls on Liverpool Council to get serious

Barry Robson, president of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia, said he was outraged that Liverpool Council was not treating the problem as a public hazard.


"The reports I've seen so far leave me a little bit disturbed that the council is treating this in a laissez faire manner, that they don't see it as a hazard," he said.
"The problem is once you disturb asbestos and it does become airborne, that's when it becomes highly, highly dangerous. It raises issues of public safety."
Mr Robson, who has been campaigning for asbestos testing and awareness for years, said solid forms of asbestos are dangerous once they are disturbed.
"The CEO or possibly the council are in denial about this potential safety hazard to the public," he said.
"It's fine to say it's there in solid form but the minute you disturb it, then it becomes highly dangerous.
"If it's in soil and you put a lawnmower over the top of it, it becomes airborne."
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19 Jan 2016 - Victoria, Australia
http://www.starweekly.com.au/…/make-asbestos-removal-easier/


A Gisborne woman, who has been fighting mesothelioma for more than a decade, believes home renovators shouldn’t have to pay to have asbestos professionally removed and disposed. Under current laws, people who find the deadly building material in their homes face expensive removal and disposal costs.
Lou Williams, despite her own ill health, has spent many years fighting on behalf of others battling lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure. She says disposal costs should be heavily subsidised. ‘‘Until that happens, we will have more and more people exposed, including their families,’’ Mrs Williams said. In 1985, her father, who worked in the building industry, was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. He died six months later, aged 54.
In 2003, Mrs Williams, then 47, was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. In 2009, she was diagnosed also with pleural mesothelioma. Large tumours were removed and she underwent chemotherapy before starting on a new drug early last year.
While asbestos was completely outlawed in 2003, Mrs Williams said it continued to wreak a devastating toll.
And those most at risk were the growing army of do-it-yourself renovators, she added. ‘‘All it takes is one speck.’’

The Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia said repairs and renovations could release millions of fibres.

Lou's comment: Invisible asbestos fibres can be deadly when doing your own renovations! Leave it to the asbestos removalist to remove any asbestos from your home. It simply is not worth the risk of innocently exposing yourself and family. Asbestos fibres once inhaled can stay dormant for 10 to 40 yrs before you maybe diagnosed with deadly mesothelioma asbestos cancer. It is a very painful, brutal and aggressive cancer!
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As you can above, asbestos is still a huge problem in Australia as it is globally.  Take a look below at an article from America - asbestos is A HUGE PROBLEM GLOBALLY NOT JUST IN AUSTRALIA.

14 January 2016 - Florida, USA
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/12/17/19026/upended-america-s-third-wave-asbestos-disease?

Upended by America’s ‘third wave’ of asbestos disease.

Life was going smoothly for Kris Penny. Then he got a rare type of cancer called mesothelioma. Penny is 39 years old. He lives in Clermont, Florida, and has four children.

This is how Kris Penny looked in April 2015:
And this is how he looked six months later:

Until September 25, 2014, life was treating him well. His flooring company had just secured its first big contract.   That morning, Penny was feeling lethargic and pulled into a McDonald’s for a cup of orange juice. Seconds after he drank it he doubled over in pain. “It felt like someone stabbed me in the stomach with a machete,” he said. A co-worker drove him to the emergency room.
When he awoke in the hospital, his wife, Lori McNamara, was beside him, crying. “I go, ‘What’s the matter? I’m still here,’ ” Penny said.

The surgeon who’d opened up his abdomen had found it full of cancer — type to be determined. The doctor “pretty much told me to get my affairs in order, right there on the spot.”

The pathology results came in four days later. Penny learned that he had peritoneal mesothelioma — a rare cancer of the lining of the abdomen almost always tied to asbestos exposure. He concluded, after consulting with a lawyer, that he’d inhaled microscopic asbestos fibers about a decade earlier while installing fiber-optic cable underground.
The cable was housed in pipe made of asbestos cement.


Lou's comment:  Kris Penny got his exposure only 10 years ago after inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers while installing fiber-optic cable underground. 

From the time of asbestos exposure, invisible fibres can stay dormant in your body from 10 to 40 years then present as deadly asbestos related diseases such as Mesothelioma (asbestos cancer) or asbestosis (non malignant asbestos cancer).  Both of these you would not wish on anyone!  Painful and aggressive, asbestos literally takes your breath away as the tumours lay in the linings of your body and gradually join up to form cauliflower like tumours that crush your organs creating unbearable pain, breathing difficulties and leaving you fighting for your life! 

Please do not take any risks with asbestos - it simply is not worth it for yourself, family, friends and workmates!
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Monday, January 11, 2016

Keytruda for Mesothelioma overnight no. 14 and walk in the park!

www.change.org
Search for Keytruda Lou Williams Mesothelioma to find my petition to fast track Keytruda on our Australian PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) for Mesothelioma and other rare cancers.

Sarah 20 years diagnosed with Mesothelioma (asbestos cancer) fighting for her life!

Lou (Louise) Williams, Australia
2 Jan 2016 Sarah who lives in USA
Sarah is only 20 years of age, married with a beautiful little son. Sarah was diagnosed with Mesothelioma, the deadly form of asbestos cancer in July 2015. She and her family are headed to Dallas next week for surgery to remove her left lung, followed by chemotherapy and radiation for several weeks. Doctors tell her that even with the surgery, she might only live two or three more years.
Lou's comment: Sarah is a very brave warrior with such inner strength and has the love of her family, friends and the Mesothelioma community. Sarah you are not on your own, we are holding your hand all the way. You will get through this!
Update 10 Jan 2016: Sarah has had her operation to remove a lung and a couple of ribs (Extrapleural Pneumonectomy for Mesothelioma operation). She was in ICU for a few days and has now been moved to another ward. She took her first big walk today and is making good progress. Sarah is so young, brave and a real warrior who with her husband, Logan, is being faced with this nightmare of living with mesothelioma through no fault of her own - her innocent exposure to inhaling invisible asbestos fibres probably as a little child to being diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer. Sarah you truly are a very brave person who has so many family and friends sending your so much support and wishing you a speedy recovery from your major operation.
Logan's comment: Please keep praying for a quick recovery thank you everyone. Sarah is recovering well, very sore from the operation and just wants to be home with their little son.
 Sarah recovering 2 days after major surgery to remove a lung and 2 ribs for Mesothelioma Cancer.



Hugs in Unity around the world to Sarah and everyone else doing it tough atm.  My heart goes out to Krissandy who lost her mum to Mesothelioma last night.  She tried to access Keytruda for her mum however was unable to do so in her own country without huge expense.  I tried all avenues to help her obtain it however we weren't successful.  Unfortunately her beautiful mother died in absolute painful agony as medications did not work.  Within 3 months her life was ended after being diagnosed in October 2015 with mesothelioma cancer.  Mesothelioma (asbestos) cancer can be very brutal, aggressive and painful.
 I had No. 14 Keytruda infusion overnight last week.  Blood tests done upon admission in pathology and my haemoglobin was up to 121!  This is amazing compared to a year ago when it was nudging on 70 and I needed 4 blood transfusions to stay alive at the time!  My haemoglobin has to be 100 for the Keytruda infusion to be administered (similar to chemotherapy) into a vein in my arm.

Admitted to the makeshift oncology ward with shared rooms while the 4th floor oncology ward was getting a makeover, I found myself in a room with a lovely lady who was aged about 40 with 4 children and a husband.  She had recently been diagnosed with bowel cancer - I was able to give her strength, hope and let her know that she is in good hands with her oncologist who is my oncologist and he has kept me alive with quality of life since 2003! (Yes for those of you who are new to my blog, I was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in 2003 and then in 2009 diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma).

After the infusion was done I escaped for an early dinner with Keith, then I had the lounge to myself in the ward until 10pm with an amazing view of the city of Melbourne in the background and fireworks at the Etihad stadium lighting up the sky at 9pm!  So how lucky was I to be able to sit back, read the paper, listen to light background music, have a cuppa and enjoy this view! 

Blood pressure taken at midnight and again at 5.30am on Thursday morning.  Showered and ready for my oncologist to do his rounds at 7.15am then discharged by 8am!  A lovely stroll through the Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens stopping at the beautiful Old Post Office to have a light breakfast before walking to the train station and getting the coach home as trains were not being used on that line at the time.


Discharged from hospital at 8am, walked through the beautiful Fitzroy/Treasury gardens into Melbourne city. Enjoying a croissant and green tea under the arches of old post office. Reminding me of beautiful Nice, France!

Saturday and Sunday were my days of having nana naps thanks to Keytruda infusion.  My body tells me when to have a rest in between carrying on in life with quality and enjoying every day of being able to do just about everything that a normal person can do with NO PAIN management!  I am free of pain and dread taking the basic Panadol and Emend (anti nausea) medication prior to when Keytruda is given as I haven't taken any medication for months now!

My email address is: eradicateasbestos@gmail.com
Twitter: mesothelioma53

Please feel to contact me anytime.



Saturday, January 2, 2016

Sarah 20 yrs old diagnosed with deadly Mesothelioma (asbestos cancer) fighting for her life!

Hi

Welcome to 2016 and may it bring happiness, good luck and the best of health for all!

A toast to everyone for 2016 from Lou Williams, Keith Williams and our beautiful siamese cat Charlie. Being here to see the new year in is a miracle and one we never ever thought would happen! Thanks to Keytruda (immunotherapy drug), my oncologist Dr Allan Zimet, the love of family and all friends - my heart is full and my glass too! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!




Please copy this link below and sign the petition and share. 
https://www.change.org/p/federal-health-minister-sussan-ley-keytruda-on-pbs-pharmaceutical-benefits-scheme-for-mesothelioma-life-saving-drug/u/14802834
www.change.org
Search Keytruda on PBS

Keytruda on PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) for Mesothelioma and other rare less common cancers (RLC). Keytruda life saving drug!
I am campaigning to have this drug fast tracked on the PBS for others with Mesothelioma (Asbestos cancer) as it has shown great promise in treating this cancer and other rare less common cancers (RLC) and need your help to do so. I believe those living with Mesothelioma and ot...her RLC should have the option of this drug Keytruda (in discussion with their oncologist) and not have the worry of finding the expensive funds to have the infusion every three weeks. It has shown to kickstart the immune system and in turn fight the cancer cells. It has done this with me - I have peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma and was literally on death's door! Daily I am contacted by others with Mesothelioma wanting to have Keytruda and because of the expense cannot do so. Mesothelioma cancer is brutal, aggressive and very painful, we simply do not have the time to put our life on hold until the Keytruda issue is 'debated'. Please sign and share. Thank you.

Petition update

Sarah 20 years diagnosed with Mesothelioma (asbestos cancer) fighting for her life!

Lou (Louise) Williams
Australia
2 Jan 2016 — 1 Jan 2016 - USA
Sarah is only 20 years of age, married with a beautiful little son. Sarah was diagnosed with Mesothelioma, the deadly form of asbestos cancer in July 2015. She and her family are headed to Dallas next week for surgery to remove her left lung, followed by chemotherapy and radiation for several weeks. Doctors tell her that even with the surgery, she might only live two or three more years.
Lou's comment: Sarah is a very brave warrior with such inner strength and has the love of her family, friends and the Mesothelioma community. Sarah you are not on your own, we are holding your hand all the way. You will get through this!