UK: Former nurse will die from asbestos

Sunderland, UK – A former nurse is expected to die in less than three months from mesothelioma as a result of being exposed to asbestos while working to help others.

Margaret Forster, a devoted nurse for 38 years, was diagnosed with the asbestos-related lung cancer last May and was told she only had about a year to live. She believes she had been exposed to asbestos dust in the Sunderland hospitals she worked at during the course of her career.

The hospitals she referred to are the Sunderland Royal Infirmary, Sunderland Eye Infirmary and Monkwearmouth Hospital. She states that in all places, she came into contact with asbestos dust from poorly maintained pipe insulation in the basements of the buildings, where she regularly visited during her shift to get splints or wheelchairs.

Mrs. Forster, 68, said she loved nursing and helping others get better so it’s frustrating to learn that her career was responsible for her illness. The grandmother of two said the first thought that came to her mind when she learned the news was that she wouldn’t be able to see her grandkids grow up.

Mrs. Forster and her husband, George, knew about mesothelioma because a friend of theirs who worked in shipyard plumbing had died from it 12 years ago.

She has undergone chemotherapy six times but the lung cancer is still progressing. She said she can’t even go up stairs without having trouble breathing.

Mrs. Forster had known nursing was her calling since she was five, after ending up in the hospital several times as an accident-prone child.

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