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The Globe and Mail: Ghost disease evokes asbestos memories
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Ghost disease evokes asbestos memories
Mesothelioma, a rare cancer, affects a growing number of Canadians, sometimes 20 to 40 years after their exposure
By CAROLYN ABRAHAM
Monday, September 26, 2005 Page A6
MEDICAL REPORTER
When Marilyn Bertrand was six, her big brother returned from his summer job at Thetford Mines in Quebec's Eastern Townships and presented her with a fuzzy, white rock from underground.
Marilyn treated it like a doll and took it with her everywhere, even to bed.
When she was 41 and doctors in Winnipeg wondered how such a young woman could develop mesothelioma - a rare and deadly cancer of the chest cavity - Mrs.
Bertrand remembered her pet rock and how she'd slept with it.
No one at the time realized the full hazards of cuddling with a hunk of asbestos.
Mesothelioma is the cancer known to strike 20 to 40 years after exposure to asbestos, the fibrous mineral once considered the magical fire-retardant in such things as home insulation, break lines and pipe wrap.
The disease is now like a ghost, visiting Canadians in growing numbers and bringing back old memories.
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