‘Asbestos at my MoD job has given me six months to live’

5 comments

1. A former dockyard worker was told he may only have six months to live after he was diagnosed with a malign form of cancer linked to [exposure to asbestos](https://inews.co.uk/news/predicted-deaths-asbestos-uk-crumbling-schools-3084818?ico=in-line_link) in his workplace.

   Peter Walsh, 77, of [Whitstable](https://inews.co.uk/news/whistable-bay-sewage-swimmers-health-2894614?ico=in-line_link), [Kent](https://inews.co.uk/topic/kent?ico=in-line_link), left school at 15 to become an apprentice boiler maker at the Chatham Dockyard in Kent in 1962.

   Mr Walsh went on to become a qualified boiler maker at the dockyard, where he worked till 1970 in an environment that he said was often “covered in [asbestos](https://inews.co.uk/topic/asbestos?ico=in-line_link).”

   “It would be a constant cloud of asbestos dust around the ships and the environment,” Mr Walsh said.

   “I ended up working in what was called the boiler shop. That is where metal items from the ship would come in which had at some stage been covered in asbestos, and there was no guarantee those pieces were cleaned.

   “The boilers and the pipeworks were also lagged with asbestos,” he added.

   Mr Walsh told **i** he began experiencing chest pain and breathlessness in February 2023.

   His doctors discovered a “suspicious” fluid in his lungs and, following a biopsy, diagnosed him with mesothelioma – a fatal form of cancer linked to asbestos exposure.

   “I was told I had six months to a year to live,” Mr Walsh told **i**. “That was in July [last year].

   “My life is shattered. I don’t know what my future holds.”

2. The exposure ended over 50 years ago though (1970).

   I’m not entirely sure what they expect here? It’s entirely possible that the cancer came about thanks to an exposure later in his life, given the wide scale general use of asbestos in those times.

3. My Dad died of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, caused by exposure to Benzene during his years in the Reserves in the early 80s.

   My mum received a War Widows pension because the exposure was clearly the cause of his death. If this gentleman has been put at risk, he and his family should be helped.

4. My grandad worked in the London dockyards and sadly succumb to asbestosis at 75. Thatcher gave him a little less exposure by closing the dock work while he was young but even so was a sad loss and glad he didn’t die at middle age of it.

5. Plenty of army barracks still have asbestos in them, a couple of signs here and there as a warning seems to make them think they’re in the clear. Have taken plenty of photos in my time of these signs to make sure I have evidence should I ever get ill.