She died on 15th August last year.
Assistant Gloucestershire Coroner Roland Wooderson said “She said she had thought long and hard about where she could have come into contact with asbestos.
“She said ‘The only place I can think of is our small terraced house while growing up in Belfast, a couple of miles from the shipyard.
“‘My father worked for Harland and Wolff. He came home with asbestos dust on his clothing. He was made redundant in 1968 and my brother and I then moved to Leeds.
“‘My brother Bill has also had an asbestos related disease and was diagnosed with pleural thickening.
“‘Our late father died from lung cancer.
“‘His death certificate confirmed he had asbestosis. This is not surprising given the amount of asbestos at work.
“‘So essentially three members of the family have had asbestos diseases. The shipyard was the only place we know where asbestos was regularly used.
“‘We all lived together in a small terraced house.Dad would stand at the back door shaking off his overalls and dust would come into the kitchen. Dust brought into the home would stay there.”
She stated it was her ‘firm belief’ that dust brought home by her dad in his clothes was the source of her cancer.
“I used to do the sweeping up from quite a young age,” she added.
The coroner recorded a narrative conclusion saying “She believed that her late father brought asbestos into the family home on his work overalls and she was thus exposed. The medical evidence is that this exposure would have been enough to cause the development of mesothelioma, or to contribute to the risk that she would get it.”
THIS REPORT IS THE COPYRIGHT OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE NEWS SERVICE AND IS NOT TO BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF GNS.
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