No escape

If you are a film buff (or even if you're not) the name Steve McQueen will probably conjure up memories of the actor making a bid for freedom by riding his motor bike over a barbed wire perimeter fence around a POW camp in the movie "The Great Escape."


What you may not know is that today is the 30th anniversary of Steve McQueen's death in 1980.  Of more significance for this blog, is the fact that he died as a result of mesothelioma after breathing in asbestos fibres when stripping out asbestos insulation from pipes in naval vessels as a mechanic in the US Marines, before his film career took off.  Mesothelioma is disease from which, even today, there is no escape in terms of a cure.


However, treatment has moved on a great deal in the last three decades.  I write today's blog in the hope that my Steve, my very own hero, will be able to take advantage of the progress in treatments which may at least offer long term stability, if not complete remission from this horrible disease......And, of course, that goes for all the other meso warriors out there - and their families and friends - who are fighting for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones as I write, as well as for those who will receive the devastating news of mesothelioma diagnosis at some point in the future, the seeds having been sown already without their knowledge.


A rather sombre thought for today - perhaps it's the effect of shorter days and darkness coming early......Anyway, we're back at home now after a short break visiting family to cheer ourselves up after the marathon of going through the court case documents, and it's still daylight!  Time to get on, unpack, and sort ourselves out ready for tomorrow, when "normal" life resumes with my return to work.