Mesothelioma is a very deadly illness that happens a while after asbestos exposure. It can take twenty years or so for the symptoms to occur for the first time, and might take a few more decades to become fully incarnated. Once it has gotten to the point to where it can be diagnosed, there is often nothing that can be done and death is almost certain.

Unfortunately there are certain factions of people that have great danger of being exposed to a major cause of mesothelioma, asbestos. The very people who protect us are often dying in more ways than going off to war – as they are dying years later from this dreaded cancer. These are people who work in the Navy and shipyards.

Navy Mesothelioma, as it has been coined, is from shipyard workers and Naval personnel being exposed to asbestos in large quantities. Asbestos was used in in great quantities due to its fire retardant nature. It has been used extensively in insulators, fireproofing, electrical and plumbing systems, and much else. The Department of Defense has used it extensively, and therefore has exposed those working in these systems to a large degree.

Ships have poor ventilation systems and the workers are stuck in close quarters. Air flow is degraded, and the personnel are forced to work breathing this in day in and day out. As if this isn’t bad enough, it is not only those working in those areas that are exposed, but their close family members as well.

The actual disease that has come to be known as ‘Navy Mesothelioma’ is hard to diagnose though. Since the disease doesn’t present itself until many years later, the source of it can be hard to narrow down, no matter how obvious it may seem.

Unfortunately too for these individuals in the military, their options to gain recourse by suing are severely limited, as suing the government is not really an option. While those who were exposed by outside companies they may have worked for, those exposed in the military cannot. Treatment options are expensive, and unless those who cannot receive funds from the companies that caused their exposure have excellent insurance, it can send them and their families spiraling into poverty rather quickly.

Mesothelioma Treatment
Treatment options are dependent on the size of the mesothelioma tumor, the victim’s age, and their health in general. Chemotherapy may be performed, in hopes of stopping the spread of the disease through the use of drug combos. This can be used in tandem with or in addition to radiation, in which high energy x-rays are shot through the tumor to try to reduce it’s size and hopefully send the cancer into regression.

Neither of these treatments is guaranteed, even when combined. They take a major toll on those receiving them too – causing hair loss, severe pain and weakness, and at times constant nausea and vomiting, among other things. It is a horrible disease to have to live through, either having to watch a loved one go through it or enduring it yourself.