Emily-Jane Scandrett, from Staffordshire, has issued an urgent warning amid her gruelling journey with mesothelioma, a rare cancer which mainly affects the lining of the lungs
A mother was rocked to be told she has an incurable cancer – after she started to experience a “paralysing pain” in her chest.
Despite testing, Emily-Jane Scandrett’s mesothelioma, a rare cancer which mainly affects the lining of the lungs, went undiagnosed for 17 months. During which time, she was pregnant with her second child and, months after welcoming her son, Emily-Jane received the cruel diagnosis.
The 41-year-old woman has pleural mesothelioma, an incurable cancer most commonly found in men over the age of 75. It’s linked to asbestos exposure but Emily-Jane, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, does not know when she was exposed to the mineral. However, the mum has asked her former employers and her old schools for asbestos reports.
Emily-Jane said: “It’s atrocious that there is asbestos in our schools, hospitals, offices, even in our homes and people still know so little about it. When I was diagnosed I had never heard of mesothelioma. I’d heard of asbestos, but I don’t know where or when I was exposed to it. There is so much more that needs to be done to raise awareness of the risks of asbestos, and to eradicate it from buildings.”
The mum of two is now undergoing immunotherapy every three weeks to slow the spread of the disease and prolong her lifespan. She’s speaking out as a new report states asbestos in British schools will lead to hundreds of thousands of people dying.
More than 90% of schools contain asbestos says the Joint Union Asbestos Committee and teachers and pupils face a “tsunami” of deaths from exposure on a daily basis.
Emily-Jane has chosen to write publicly about her diagnosis and treatment on her Facebook page, and has campaigned and fundraised on behalf of two charities, Mesothelioma UK and Asbestos Support Central England.
In one hard-hitting update, she wrote: “Mesothelioma is a rare cancer. Everyone reading this post and their families have been exposed to the same risks of breathing in or ingesting asbestos fibres as I have been – some will already have mesothelioma in their lungs without knowing it yet!!”
Horrifying statistics show that at least 1,400 teachers and support staff along with 12,600 pupils have died since 1980 from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by breathing in asbestos fibres. And it is believed that many more will also die over the following decades with older buildings containing asbestos crumbling.
