Stopping Meso

One year ago today I spent the afternoon in the emergency room. Since then I've had a hospitalization, a biopsy, a diagnosis, four rounds of chemotherapy, and nine rounds of immunotherapy, with a tenth coming tomorrow. The result of all that is that for now, I'm stable. Compared to last year, I know worse things about my condition but I am receiving much better care for it. So it's complicated.

My Christmas cactus and I are both still here.

I'm learning to live with cancer, and the fear and disorientation of the first few weeks and months after my diagnosis have faded. It tears at my heart, though, when I hear of newly diagnosed patients. Each new patient experiences their own round of fear and pain. At the symposium we attended in October, we learned that people are getting mesothelioma at younger ages, even down to the age of 8. 

Unlike many cancers, mesothelioma has a specific, preventable cause: asbestos exposure. In past times asbestos was commonly used in building materials, sometimes intentionally as a fire-retardant and sometimes unintentionally as contamination of other products. Thus the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11 released considerable quantities of asbestos dust into the air and is expected to result in an upsurge in mesothelioma cases as the latency period of 10 to 50 years progresses. My own exposure appears to be through the contamination of vermiculite insulation.

It is too late to do anything about asbestos exposure in the past, but we should be able to stop it in the present and future. An apparently innocent ongoing source of asbestos exposure is talcum powder, accounting for an increase in mesothelioma cases among women. Most talc-based cosmetics are contaminated with asbestos because the two minerals often naturally occur in conjunction with each other. Disturbingly, the FDA has recently withdrawn its proposed rule requiring the testing of talc-based cosmetics for asbestos. In other words, asbestos exposure is not being stopped. More people are going to get cancer.

What can we do? Here are a few steps to take:

1. Opt for cornstarch-based rather than talc-based cosmetics and baby powder.
2. Urge your elected officials to push for renewed FDA standards for talcum powder.
3. Support the advocacy, patient support, and research efforts of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. You can do that through my fundraising page at this link.

I know I've asked before, and many of you have responded—thank you! But if there is anyone out there who is wondering where to direct a year-end gift, might I suggest this cause? Mesothelioma should be preventable. And hopefully it will soon be curable, too!