The Multitopic Blog

In spite of being a rare disease, mesothelioma has claimed a number of victims, quite a few of them being notable. In 2005 Bob Bellar, an Australian anti-racism activist lost his life to mesothelioma and in the same year noted British science fiction writer Michael G. Coney also passed away. American actor Paul Gleason died in 2006 and earlier in 2003 mesothelioma claimed Paul Rudolph an American architect as one of its victims.

Another Australian activist Bernie Benton claimed compensation from James Hardie who contracted the disease while working. Steve McQueen died of a heart attack while in mexico a year after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His death occurred immediately after he was operated upon for cancer. Earlier he had been refused surgeryand chemotherapy because doctors were of the opinion that the cancer was too advanced. There have been some speculations as to how he came into contact with asbestos. McQueen had been serving with the US Marines when asbestos was commonly used as an insulator for pipers or when he was wokring in a shipyard during World War II. Another source of asbestos could have been racing suits where it was used as an insulator.

United States Congressman Bruce Vento died of mesothelioma in 2000 and his wife awards the The Bruce Vento Hopebuilder to persons and organizations that have supported mesothelioma research, in an annual function at the MARF symposium. Musician Warren Zoven died of a painful & untreated illness after he refused treatment fearing it would incapacitate him and concentrated his energies on wrapping up his final album before his death.

Even though the life expectancy with this disease is limited, there are quite a few notable people who have survived, including Stephen Jay Gould who was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in July of 1982 and wrote an article titled “The Median isn’t the Message for Discover magazine, wherein he argued that statistics were just abstractions that were useful and not destiny. He lived for another twenty years before finally succumbing to another disease, to metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung.

Author Paul Kraus was found to have mesothelioma in 1997 after he underwent an umbilical hernia operation. Doctors gave him a few months but he is has survived using a variety of integrative & complementary methods and has written a book about his experiences with mesothelioma.