Document x5Mj1zZdak4BZ1KDezvLrGez0

Cancer-causing a aibestos fibres are killing a mining tow i's second generation by Clare rfixon an< I Larry Writer T WASTOO LITE F# MOTIFS. I"You lw* nm<* month*.** & at W.V* KT*mamJ- Hospital l d< Brent Taylor May when hi* cancer w diagnosed. ''Tliet** no treatment and no real hope. WeT make you aft comfy a* we can-** But Taylor, the 32-yoar-oM fatlw r * threeyoung diildrcn. has refut-M to h*t -tin* voructHm earner i*'S wtk-n blue adiestm fi* iw* arc iiihued an:) *}tear the lung lining--Minu h him away. Fact Ik, lie plan* to Ik* around a while yet--long enough to watch ht children gmw, plant trees, play cricket and secure bis family'* future by winning a vise* able compensation payout from (hose ti<- I hunt* tor ex * Miighim to a di*tsum tiuit will evi llllnlliy kill him- 1 aylor baa air :I d[y. rejected a $50,000 scttlemi II fjom CSK Limits ed, [he industria Jabl which run the aslwfttoii mine bi itienoom, WA. wltune he claitn6.|hgot the dieease as a youngster. In aj 1 mdmaHk Supiwmo Ooijrt teat case- -d e ffete ofwhich ftotefrapfct by Evttt Colfl*/Wftpl i, imL will be set on Oct 8--'Taylor will cck at least halfamdKon dolfo* from CSR, the W&^fiwks Miiaa.ei the fonwusiionerfbr Main Roads, the Housing Cammiwion. the Sub 3VAtmdlhcSHmiofAl}t)Urtu.`1 am gtmig to Hie prematurely,** Ik says, "and the people who must k> after my family an: (hose who art responsible for my death.** Taylor is one of more than 20 0( peopfe who lived or worked at Wit tefioomirom 1943 until 1966 wlteii t!ie asbestos mine was closed dowt Today the houses in Wittcnoom been rased and the businesses have long since disappeared. But John Gordon, of solicitors Slater and Got* don representing Brent Taylor, soys that ofthe 6,500 mine- and millwarkore, one in three has developed or will develop asbestos-related conoer. And among the 13,500 rton-minewoddng residents at least one In 20 has or will mesothelioma. The Perth-bued s Diseases Society estimates that at least 2,000 miners and resi dents have died to date. Following more than a decade of bitter, heaiwne-making legal battles, CSR in 19S8 admitted liability lor as bestos-caused cancer developed by mine- and millwurken and set aside more than $20 million to settle the claims of the 200 miners (hen seek ing compensation. Since that time, claims bsve continued to be ftlod and a further 150 people have received a total of322,5 million, avenging $150,000 each. But the company ad mits no liability for the cancer Buffer* ere like Taylor who lived in the town but were rot mineworkers. "There is so much unresolved in this matter,** explains John Mengler of CSR'* tolicitors, Jackson McDonald. *1t Is still unknown whether there is a liability < Brest Tauter strength la faith, "tbslttvs la eternal fift amt (ft a gnat fading of leassareses." TtVMeuMfa'a estates ados Is shut sow, soba tears efsousttare t Ore tails B6liABaBJBA9aRANd dfOanVanili * to re iidents, and 1 (hire is, where that lability test! Resident* are in erent group i those actually ' ed in the 11 nd. It's still to be what! lefct this level of exposure had.** - j Ptotwithstandii i (his denial of retpjBnsibOlty, C I I's-policy is to offer such victims $50 (00 compensation. Sofarthreejbrm i Wittenoom resi dent* have Ukentic money, but many mesothelio r i. sufferers are waiting for the it a pf Brent Taylor's daftn. Jfhis bid o sJaiger payout the pn c edent oould help ailing ex-rt i dents win sums of tut figures. ecliningoni >lack leather in hit tno i m brick-ond-tilc e inYangebi p, south of Perth, Taylor calmly dii c Loses the turn his life pas taken. H < fobner health and safety officer, bu > od by newfound fsitl> and posilivi hihklng courses, clinks to the love < fwife Debbie, 28, Brendan a .< Lfcuren, 2, and Brent, 7 mjr the. Though weak- aocommo- clamber aboard the? dad and hard. Soon the children, snowy* leaded inheritor* of Bre tf'a startling rnt blue eyas, : do* \ peacefully, iu.T<M to sleep by his gen le voice as ne ip^aks of horrors lha they will on y. Ja|er understand. iMy whole fs lily could be de layed by this c 'itaic,** he says, re* calpng how for ijvjs years beginning n^r dad Butch, Dot and tv ctlsidten were ex* posed to blue as >taibs fibres after the lankly settled in tpe outback mining town 1,600km n >ith of Perth. Utough Brdnt is the first to fall victim to asbestos-relatM ancer, the others fee that it may 4 only a matter of tim i before die) reperienee the bn uhlesaneta i i* qhatp pains in thechust, back a shoulder that sig la) the illnes >. j ' avlor recalli ; blwhood spent spl ifihjng in cn .tatyaear rock pools am playing in t n rijeh-red Wit ter )om dirt--d ` iabed with Mbestaa du t and fibres li at would float out of tlx mine and sc t c^n every surface in he town. Uk t lUd flies and the 4jO- dc tee-plus hei L litp tiny blue fibres thi t caught in h 11 and clothes and! sw ried into the e yet and down the i threat wfien the v osloriy winds blefc ariavtwHO 29 UPFRO werejust something the people of Wittenoom learned to put up with. Says Dot Taylor, 52: w?t teemed j great place to live. Wc tun er knew anything'about the danger* of atbeslos. The kids used to play in that sand pita, mix the dust with water tn< throw it around.** She adds bitterly "What has Happened to my son is heartbreaking. 1 still look at Brent and can*l believe it. I*m very pmur. o the way he*a handling h. He*a made up his mind he'a going to live.** Other Conner resident* share Brent's light. (VilecnCbuJthard, 4C* lost her father, min#Ted Dddd, to asbestos-related cancer. Now she lei self is a victim ofmesothelioma andj prime mover in the Asbestos Disease i Society. Strung and jolly. she spend* her days bucking up fellow victim# such as Taylor and Riising funds for ie*oJieliom;i research being done h associate professor Bruce Hobinsoi 11 Perth's Sir Uuuies (mirdner Hosp lai. She recdl* how die U iitenoon: air was always thick witli asbestos duit. "Wc had flywire on our windows. When the blue fibres caught in the wire and pew to thick you oouldn*t see out any more, you'd give the screen a good hit witfi the broom." *l1ie whack would send them billow* in* into the air. Doctors sav just one innaled fibre is enough to kill. According to Robinson, 42, mesothelioma Is the most resistant of all known cancan to the three stan dard (onus of treatment: It can't be removed surgically and it shrugs off radiation anu chemotherapy. That leaves immunology--stimulation of the body's onti-caneer cells--and that is where Robinson is directing his energy. .And where Brent Taylor's hopes of living longer lie. "Mesothe lioma is a cancer not of the luug it self, but ofthe pleum, the sac the king sits in." Robinson wiys. "You in hale the fibre and it penetrates the lung like a spear, it makes its way through the lung and penetrates the pleura. Over the years it stimulates the call* of die pleura and in 10 to 15 year* you got damage that produces the cancer--n uncontrollable growth ttsor trees 4oo, herewith showing a sdhntg, alms effgthetlvss me otbefiotsa of ceQs. Tim tumoiu gibws inside the lung intil it collaj i *a the lung and imat <t> surr^undi ; tissue*.* After up to $0 year*, pa add breathieas- ness sndinvsufl i url a doctor. But by th r U*s ;.<) lat Al it was for Bib it 'aylor. After experiencing hredHink difficulties whih umpiring a j>: ill game, he was < iagnosed as nalJy ill. "It was i hit like a fu i . But the per* son everyone was ing was still dive ft was an av i cofemn- 30 SM*1WK tion." The doomed mmt cried* *tt wasn*t so much tharl was going to die--the thing thatwomen me most was that I wasn't golngio ace my hid grew up" Then he met Grit** Outthard* "She woe m source ofgreat strength for us," says Taylor, who later fourd solace in ndigiuu, joined a positive* thinking class and resolved to fight i guarantee his young family's welfare For help with his legal and medio I affairs, Taylor turned to Robert Veje <Vtikoriej* toms WKtsworn ttothnsattorpmtins, WA, ear* tl* aieiitik^rnpat** fuJfcHrtktskJs* this acton, aat safer for titasstf and ft (ma? tot for attar Mffarart." kovlc, 92,.president ofthe Aebestue Diseases Society ofAustralia, Vojakovic's link with the residents of the (own goes hack to 1961, when be was a broke young Croatian migrant packing asbestos in die Wittenoora mill. Then on Christmas Day he won 400 in a poker game and bougjtt his ticket out of town* Rut he never forgot his workmates* Today the former accountant is dedicated to helping those who re mained behind* "Wc hsve not yet es- liability L enret of the of Wlt- * be says, ia prepared an ex gratif |>a; ...but that The oompdn^ if try! ibHity. pay- Mtien. Counters CSR torJohn Men- glen "ifa former rijdeht oomes along with one oft! tee diseases, ' lie this offer leave it. In the past Itrs been takcri to a number of ` " And what ui Brent Taylor? "His (jlaim is potei telly e Urge one. He's dot a family a >d is' a young man.nseys Mengle . "It's up to him to eonUnce the cot r| thjat ms meso thelioma was cauw i W exposure [to blue asbestos 11 u <1." Taylor intends t< !o)ust that "It's my riju as e fathei ic kick a ball aitnina the paric wi I nw kids," he says. jBecause of 1\ b disease, I may not be able to do tl aand I blame CSR and thegovei qridttt." . Today, as he fia ttje for his life, Taylof surrounds r i iselfwith living things--his famiilvy fluielr friends who oomei old W , his o f iodine 4-monthS*venth--e--l-u-s-h tropicU palms and galive shrubs in his garden thrive, ify aim is to do a tafc course in her iOmture and work part-time in a nun My,," he says. "A goal 2|ke ihai is im >i>rUnt It helps witli iy positive tl Hiking. 1 get angry vheopeople thro* ir. the towel. My destiny is in my w 4 hands, and HI be grabbing hold < feverything to stay alivc4-diets, aeup iheture, herbal remedies, anythin ;/Hii8 is one of die main seasons I air limning with the churdb. I*m not sii ;ibgbeck and ac cepting what doct< rk say is gospel.** Oqce his fomil] '4 financial future U secure, Taylor f I) m to make quali ty tinfe of howevei 1 laby months or , yean he has left; Ikin* with Deb and the k ds, landscaj u ig his backyard, playi ig sport* The < ne-iime keen sportsman can on y' j; iy theixld ofgulf the* < u "Jaufier joonslairt bac t[ In and pain in in; chest when r 6: iwdccp breams"--and th: : loerhastt* ducc! his lung ea > toil by a third, But I e if determi < cl play his beta ed cricket a t [ Even ifIt meat s hitting six 1 the time sol don*~: have to mov s the crease," a Wto*iWne 31