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Age 51-60

Interview 19

Interview 19

Age at Interview: 54
Sex: Male
Age at Diagnosis: 53
Background: Engineer in nuclear power station, married, 1 child

Brief outline:Diagnosed with mesothelioma in April 2003, followed by left extra-pleural pneumonectomy (left lung removed, together with chest lining, diaphragm, and lining round the heart, and replaced with Gore-Tex).

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His employers have accepted liability for his exposure to asbestos and he has obtained compensation.
Print In fact, I have got a compensation claim and my employers have accepted full liability for my exposure. But it is one thing that I didn't actually want to start. When I was first diagnosed I think nearly every doctor I saw said that you should be starting to claim compensation, which struck me as a bit strange that doctors were worried about this. I said at the time that I didn't want to be distracted by compensation. My head was full of so many things already with being diagnosed with a terminal illness. I didn't want to be distracted from recovery by what I knew could be quite a sort of long drawn out process, but one of the cancer specialist nurses came and talked to me and she said, “You really must think about claiming compensation”. And she gave me some ideas of how to go about it and I contacted a solicitor who was recommended to me who deals with industrial diseases. He was wonderful. He understood my condition and the thing that he said to me which made me want to go ahead was, he said, “You have to decide whether you want to claim and get the benefit of compensation while you are alive or whether your widow claims when you are dead”. I thought, well, putting it that way if we can get some compensation it will help us have a better life for my remaining years. In actual fact, it hasn't been a problem at all. The solicitor has been really good.

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