Mesothelioma Sufferer Pioneers New Hope

Source: Rochdale Online

Rochdale Online profiles the struggle of Leigh Carlisle in her battle with peritoneal mesothelioma. At 27, Ms. Carlisle is believed to be Britain’s youngest victim of mesothelioma. That Ms. Carlisle was diagnosed with the disease at such a young age is surprising, as the disease most commonly takes decades to develop and generally affects people in their 50s and beyond. How and why she developed the disease when she was 26 is still a mystery, as is the precise nature of her exposure. One possibility is that she was exposed to asbestos as a young girl when she would short-cut through a factory yard where asbestos was cut. Another is that she was exposed to the mineral from coming into contact with the fibers that were on the work clothes of a relative who worked in an asbestos plant. Even if one of these possibilities is true for her exposure, doctors are still surprised she developed the disease as young as she had. Many see it as further evidence of the tremendously hazardous nature of asbestos fibers.

Ms. Carlisle is part of a mesothelioma clinical trial where an experimental drug is being used to reduce a tumor’s resiliency so chemotherapy will be more effective. The early results shows Ms. Carlisle is responding very well to the treatment. According to her doctors, “her lungs and stomach are clear of cancer cells, her lymph nodes have returned to near-normal and the tumors in her abdomen have broken down significantly.” With Mr. Carlisle as a great example of the growing effectiveness of new medications for the treatment of mesothelioma, doctors are hopeful that future victims may be more successfully treated than previous victims have been.