In Memoriam

One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring,
One smile can begin a friendship,
One hand can lift a soul,
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal,
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam can light a room,
One candle can wipe out darkness,
One laugh can conquer gloom,
One hope can raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care,
One voice can wake up everybody,
One life can make the difference

Gone are the days we used to share,
But in our hearts you're always there,
Never more than a thought away,
Loved and remembered every day!!!

Dedicated to the men and women who fought and lost
their battle to asbestos related diseases.


Artist: Ennio Morricone - Title: Gabriel's Oboe - "The Mission"

A Lee West Poem

A simple little wooden cross,
Tells of our sad and tragic loss,
Of loved ones taken all too soon,
And all because of Wittenoom.

Though each cross may look the same,
Yet each bears our loved one's name,
We stand before each with bowed head,
And not one word needs to be said.

Every cross has its own story,
But now each name lives in glory,
They fought the fight and sadly lost,
And each of us knows at what cost.

We each have our own heart felt pain,
Yet gathered here all can gain,
Comfort in sharing our common grief,
Strength in numbers is a sure belief.

We think upon our shattered dreams,
Life is pointless, or so it seems,
But life will always keep going on,
With memories of those now gone.

Weep not for the plans you'll not share,
For others now need all your care,
And those lost ones I'm sure would say,
Please think on me when you pray.


© Lee West 2011.

(Executives note - ADFA would like to thank Lee West for letting us share his wonderful poem.)

My name is Jennifer Wendy Piper and I was born on 31st August 1958.

This is my story...

BC - before cancer I was a very fit and active person. I walked everyday - sometimes to work from Balgowlah to Crows Nest, I played A-grade competitive tennis, attended Pilates classes, and I ran in a social running group and had just taken up rowing. The week before I was admitted to hospital in 2006 my partner David and I rode with friends from Guilford via Prospect to Cabramatta on our bikes. Every weekend was full of physical activity. I was a Physical Education teacher from 1980 - 2000. In 1988 I had a small break from teaching to work for my parents in a Framing and Graphic Art business. In May 1988 I had my darling daughter Katie. I went back to continue teaching through the late 80's and through the 1990's. In 2001 I retrained to be a Computing and Design and Technology Teacher. I enjoyed extracurricular activities with my students such as sport, school dances, school camps, Duke of Edinburgh expeditions etc. As you can see I was fully involved in anything and everything around me and my family!

In June 2006 whilst working as a teacher at North Sydney Girls High School I had a flu vaccination and being one of the unlucky ones I developed flu. After several rounds of anti biotics I was noticing how extremely tired I was becoming. To walk a flight of stairs at work made me short of breath. I saw a doctor and he prescribed antibiotics but they had little effect. On a visit to my naturopath on a completely different matter he commented on my laboured breathing. I ran socially with him and he knew how fit I should have been.

I was sent for a chest X-Ray and it showed a large amount of fluid in my right lung. I went home for bed rest for three day, and on my follow up checkup he said antibiotics were not working and that I had to be admitted to hospital. I was not impressed - I had plans for the following days. But off to Manly Hospital I went on 17th August 2006. It was a Friday night and I was admitted to emergency and there I stayed for Saturday and Sunday. I had numerous X-rays and they drained the fluid from my lungs for testing. Manly hospital emergency over a weekend is not a fun place. The useless drunks that kept me awake, the domestic violence problems not to mention the poor people who actually needed serious medical attention - I could write a book. It was a zoo! On Sunday the Registrar came to see me and asked about asbestos exposure. My heart sank as I had loosely followed the Bernie Banton fight with Hardies and vaguely knew that Asbestos was dangerous and could kill. I have renovated fibro houses in the past and like virtually anyone living in Sydney has come in contact with asbestos. I went home looked on the Internet and just saw my world crumble. Never look on the Internet - It's scary. I was convinced I would never wake up tomorrow.

Now began the treadmill of specialists firstly Royal North Shore and then RPA. I met outstanding Doctors who just wanted the best for me. I seemed to just keep getting higher and higher on the specialist hierarchy. At RPA Brian McCaughan saw me and whilst he didn't hold a lot of hope he performed a pleurodesis in 2006, and then just as I recovered he sent me to the Oncologist Michael Bowyer. I underwent chemo treatment with the aim to reduce the tumours and then perhaps I may be eligible to have my right lung removed. I had outstanding results on chemo. I feel an excellent combination from my naturopath, a positive approach and chemo drugs all contributed to my tumours shrinking significantly.

I worked through my chemo treatment and that also gave me a focus. Students come first and you just get on with the job of teaching them. I thank the staff at North Sydney Girls for their support and help through this time. I feel anyone undergoing chemo needs huge work place support. The tumours had shrunk/disappeared so much that I was eligible to have my right lung removed. Prior to having my lung removed I went to Fiji with my partner David and we had a great time. Combined with this trip and three days with one of my sisters I was drunk for almost 10 days. On arrival at Strathfield Private I was told I needed a blood test. My sister hoped they didn't do a blood alcohol reading! I probably wouldn't pass.

On the 27th March 2007 my right lung and other bits were removed. The space was lined with gortex so I am now warm in all weather and waterproof. I remember waking up in ICU and my first thought was I can see - I didn't die. So now the fight to get better was on.

I had only barely recovered from this surgery when I was given 5 lovely tattoos and introduced to Radiation. I am sorry but I feel this was the most awful thing I have ever been through. I would have chemo any day; I dread radiation. I counted every treatment, rejoicing when the machine had to be serviced and I had a day off. On the last treatment I made the comment that thank heaven you have cooked that chook in my chest only to be told the effects will continue for a few weeks - wonderful. Finally I was able to eat again and gradually got back to exercising regularly. I said I would never have any more scans etc the disease could just take me when ever. In July this year (2007) I thought I was having some heart problems. I was getting pains in my chest especially when I exercised. So I had a CT scan. It showed several small tumours. So I was back to feeling like a mouse in a running wheel. Back to the specialists and more Chemo. I completed 6 treatments and had a scan that showed the tumours had not shrunk but had not grown. This was great news. I call my tumours freckles. Nearly everyone has freckles and they are fine provided they do not change. My tumours are exactly the same as freckles - I just have to keep an eye on them. I am due for a scan in March "to take a look at my freckles". The future is unknown all that has happen is I have been given a sign to say do what you want today don't wait for tomorrow.

People ask how did I get Mesothelioma? I don't know; I have worked in schools all my life and Asbestos is throughout many. I renovated fibro houses in the past 15 years but this seems to be too recent. I've got the disease and I can't get rid of it.

People ask what it is like without a lung. I feel like I have a basketball in my chest, some days it is really light and a bit deflated others it is full size and weighs like a medicine ball. My breathing is good I just have to do things at a slower pace.

I see a naturopath and take several supplements everyday but I do not follow a special diet. I eat and drink what I like when I can.

The journey has had its moments but I am not angry re the disease just annoyed that it has forced me to stop work and I will probably have a shorter life than I expected based on my family's history. It has however allowed me appreciate many different things in life. My nieces and nephews use me as a case study for their health projects. I think they like to show off their ability to pronounce and spell Mesothelioma correctly, and they seem to get the sympathy mark from their teachers. They haven't got less than an A for their assignments and speeches. Soon after diagnosis I made a bucket list and have steadily been marking off things. I have great support at home from Katie and David. I have a wonderful family; fantastic friends and have met some truly kind and courageous people who are themselves fighting to live life to the fullest.

My journey will have many sagas along the way but I intend to remain active for a long time to come and medical science will eventually come up with a cure.

Jennifer

























(Editors note - Jenny lost her battle with
Mesothelioma on 16th March 2011.)

Katie's Story

After mum was told her tumours hadn't shrunk but in fact grown, it was clear that continuing chemo or any other treatment would only seek to diminish her quality of life and not actually be productive for her health. She was advised to talk to palliative care department in Mona Vale and start putting things in place for when things began to go down hill - I remember going to that appointment with her, hearing that and leaving completely shattered. Finally, for me at least, it sunk in that this disease was actually very, very real and was going to take my mum from me. It was easy to forget how incredibly painful and serious it really was because of mum's never failing strength, positivity and dignity throughout the whole thing. Even though there were lots of incredibly scary and sad times, mum did a fantastic job of holding everyone and herself together - it almost seemed like she was definitely going to survive it.

After that appointment, mum spoke to her doctors about focusing on ways to deal with her pain and fatigue, she continued going to the gym, taking the dog for walks and seeing her friends. Even then, she was putting me to shame with how much she could achieve in just one day. Not to mention her social life was way more impressive too. However, after a few months she started getting very tired and needed more and more rests before going out and doing things. After sharing a really nice Christmas with her and the summer holidays, her abdomen started to swell from fluid. She had to have a few times it drained to relieve the pressure and discomfort.

She had planned to go to Tasmania in February with David, it was the last destination on her bucket list. During the last week of her visit to Tasmania, her breathing became really bad and so did her pain. She was admitted into Hobart Hospital to try and recover for a few days until she was able to fly home. For the first time since she was diagnosed she was put on oxygen. David stayed with her at the hospital for the extra days it took to be cleared to fly. She flew back home the beginning of March. It was very hard to see her when I picked her up from the airport, mainly because she left walking and seemingly fine and then she came back, in a wheelchair and on oxygen.

Over the next week, I moved back home for a few days to spend time with her, even then, the sickest she ever was, she still helped me with my Tafe homework and started teaching my friends and I how to make 70's inspired macramé hanging baskets. She would still brush her hair and put on a nice dress for visitors - even though just putting a dress on took her several hours, was incredibly painful and she'd have to have a long rest afterwards. Mum refused, even in that last week, to let that horrible disease take away her dignity.

The next week she went back to Strathfield hospital to have her abdomen drained, it was just routine like before, she went in on Monday and was meant to come home Wednesday morning. The procedure went well and she was actually beginning to feel better. Early morning on Wednesday the 16th of March she called the nurses in complaining of breathing difficulties and lost consciousness, they tried to revive her but couldn't and she passed away.

For my family and myself, it has been an incredibly hard year and with Christmas coming up it's beginning to feel like it's getting even harder, especially considering how much mum absolutely loved Christmas. But, although losing her seemed like the end of the world, she leaves behind a lifetime of amazing memories; she's definitely passed on a lot of her strength and positivity, and has touched the lives of everyone she met. She is my biggest inspiration and I miss her greatly every second of every day, but I consider myself incredibly lucky to have known her and I absolutely cherish the time we had together.

She was the strongest woman I will ever know and I whole-heartedly believe that it was her sheer determination, dignity, positivity and constant strength that played the biggest part in her surviving as long as she did. And I think that is one the greatest lesson she left behind.

Katie Piper
(Jenny's daughter)





























(Executives note - ADFA would like to thank the Piper Family for sharing their stories. Jenny and the family are an inspiration to all of us.)

(Executives note - ADFA would like to thank Katie Lomax for sharing her dad Kevan Lomax story, raising awareness & funds during the 2011 City2Surf.)

A Daughters Story

A daughter discovers how her father died from mesothelioma, a cancer caused from asbestos exposure. This is not an uncommon story, thousands have been subjected to this dangerous fibre. Originally the video was made as a pilot, went on to win several awards, Wild Spaces (metro screen) 1997, St Petersburg Green Vision 1998, UTS Golden Eye Award, (best script) 1999, and screened in Canada (Planet in Focus) Long island Film Festival, Brazil and around Australia.

A Barvara Hush Production



(Executives note - ADFA would like to thank Barvara for sharing her dad's story, raising awareness & the video.)