Helen Wickings from Wallington, UK has died from mesothelioma in the midst of her suit against Inland Revenue tax offices. Mrs. Wickings, who was 65 when she died, had filed against offices in Croydon and Epsom believing her work at these locations exposed her to asbestos fibers.
Mrs. Wickings said the dusty archives at the Croydon location and the exposed pipes of the boiler room in Epsom were the sources of asbestos fibers that led to her case of mesothelioma. Her jobs required her to spend time in both places, filing in the archives of Croydon and reading meters in the Epsom boiler room.
Mrs. Wickings’s case had been postponed while her solicitors gathered additional evidence. It was Mrs. Wickings’s hope that compensation won in the case would provide for her disabled husband, Ernie, after she was gone.
Asbestos is thought to be the sole cause of rare cancer mesothelioma. Although safe if contained, airborne asbestos fibers pose a health threat if inhaled. Mesothelioma development can begin in the lung lining and lining of other abdominal cavities if asbestos fibers are inhaled into the lungs. This development takes twenty to fifty years to demonstrate symptoms often going unnoticed until then. When symptoms do begin they mimic those of bronchitis and pneumonia making diagnosis difficult.
Following diagnosis of mesothelioma, patient life expectancy is short, averaging eighteen months. Mesothelioma treatments are available and include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy or palliative care. There is no known cure for mesothelioma.
Mrs. Wickings said of her condition,
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