Lifesaving Trial – Sunday Times
I want to go on a trial to save my life
This is a public health crisis and it is so sad to see another of our members fighting to save their lives from entirely preventable asbestos caused cancers. This week we have 6 new cases of mesothelioma approx 1 every 12 hours. Keytruda has bought Kat time with her family but it has not cured her.
WA has the leading medical research team in the world – sadly because we see the most cases. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with Government to fund a world class facility and trials to offer hope, especially to those children being exposed today.
Thank you Kat for sharing your story.
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It was an exciting home renovation but two decades later, it could also prove a death sentence. Kat Drage had no idea during the reno in the 1990s that the flecks of white dust covering her body and which she was breathing in were full of asbestos. At the age of 50 in 2015, she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer caused by inhaling fibres.
“I would’ve been around 32 when I was exposed,” Mrs Drage of Perth said. “And then I found out just after my 50th in 2015. They picked it up ironically on a pap smear, by chance. It just shook me. My exposure was so tiny. The surgeon rang me and said ‘Did you go to Wittenoom? Did you live in an asbestos house?’ I mean, no, no.”