I believe you can get some sort of financial compensation from the Government for asbestos. Have you been advised about that?
I didn't know anything about that whatsoever, and the first time I went for chemotherapy I was talking to one of the guys there, and he said, 'Have you had all the leaflets from the Macmillan nurses?' So I said “no”. The Macmillan nurses and mesothelioma hadn't really connected in my brain, and he said, 'Oh well, here's the address, give them a ring, they'll send you the leaflets'. And he said, 'Have you thought about, sort of, applying for some sort of financial help?' I said 'No, why?' He said, 'Well, here's an address, write to them', and, it's the support group up in the north. He was using actually one in Liverpool. I contacted them and they've been brilliant, and right from the start they said to me, 'Well you need to apply for an industrial injury', and they asked me lots of questions, and eventually we came to the conclusion that this one particular factory where I had worked for a while is a potential likely cause. And their insurers will sort of pay compensation, so the various things have been put in place, so… yeah. I have applied, and it's just sort of followed its natural course.
When you said the support group up in the north, is that the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, or is this a support group specifically for mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma; it's an asbestos-related… most of the cases, or, or the majority of cases are likely to come from the northern counties, because there were asbestos factories up there, whereas we didn't have many in the south. So, there is a support group, and once you're in touch with them, they virtually handle everything, and they steer people in my position through the various things that they think we should do, and I've just followed their guidance really. |
