Global Mesothelioma Awareness Day

 
 

This year, Global Mesothelioma Awareness Day falls on Sunday, September 26, 2023. Yet, it’s a day that most people won’t be aware of or at least not understand in its entirety. This day is about raising awareness and funds and helping find a cure for this preventable disease.  

The more we learn about mesothelioma and its impact on everyday people, the more power we have in our fight against it. After all, we might not have a cure for mesothelioma, but we sure have plenty of ways to prevent this disease from developing in the first place. Read on to learn more about Global Mesothelioma Awareness Day and the illness the whole world is fighting.

What Is Global Mesothelioma Awareness Day?

Global Mesothelioma Awareness Day was first established in 2004 by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and its community members. Since that day, the Meso Foundation has been the driving force behind funding research into mesothelioma and bringing more attention to this preventable disease.

While the Meso Foundation is a USA-based non-profit organisation funded by charitable donations, the awareness day is global. This means every country can get behind the efforts to bring mesothelioma into the spotlight.

What Is Mesothelioma?

With an entire day dedicated to a disease, it’s important for us to understand what the disease actually is. Mesothelioma is a type of cancer affecting the lining of the lungs, heart, chest, and abdomen. It gets its name from the mesothelial cells surrounding these organs.

As the mesothelioma cancer progresses, the lining around these organs thickens. Eventually, the cancer invades the organs and impairs their functions. There is more than one type of mesothelioma, with the tumour location determining the diagnosis:

  • Pleural mesothelioma: cancer in the chest cavity, lung surface, and diaphragm

  • Peritoneal mesothelioma: cancer in the abdomen and on the surface of the omentum and visceral organs

  • Pericardial mesothelioma: cancer on the lining of the heart, also known as the pericardium

  • Tunica vaginalis mesothelioma: thickening of the glands and ducts in the testes

Many people diagnosed with a form of mesothelioma experience a range of symptoms, depending on the type of cancer, such as:

  • Coughing

  • Chest pain

  • Shortness of breath

  • Unexplained weight loss

  • Lumps under the skin on the chest

  • Abdominal swelling and pain

  • Nausea 

How Many People Are Diagnosed With Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer. Out of all cancer types, this particular form only accounted for 0.17% of all cancer diagnoses in 2020. Because of its rarity, it hasn’t attracted the attention it deserves. Perhaps due to that lack of awareness, there isn’t much research into potential drugs to treat it, and the survival rate has remained the same for the last half a century.

According to a study in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the five-year survival rate of those diagnosed with mesothelioma was just 12%. This is much lower than the survival rate of all other cancers, which is 62.7%.

What Causes Mesothelioma?

We know that most cancers start to form when mutations happen in the DNA of our cells. Our cells can begin to grow and multiply until they accumulate and form tumours. We don’t yet know what results in those initial genetic mutations, but we do know what increases our risk of having them. The primary risk factor for this rare form of cancer is asbestos exposure.

Asbestos is a natural mineral found in the environment that was once used to form a range of products. It was desirable because it was heat-resistant with strong fibres. It was also cheap to manufacture within a wide range of materials like building products, automotive goods, and even textiles.

Asbestos presents minimal health risk in its non-friable form, encased within products. However, exposure to the asbestos fibres can have deadly health consequences. If we breathe in those tiny asbestos fibres, they can settle in the lungs or stomach and cause irritation. Over a period of 30 to 40 years, or even up to 60 years, the irritation can lead to mesothelioma.

So far, researchers have deduced that we can be more at risk of mesothelioma if we:

  • Have been directly exposed to asbestos fibres – such as through work or damaged asbestos materials in the home

  • Have lived with someone who works with asbestos. Secondhand exposure has resulted in mesothelioma diagnoses and subsequent deaths in NZ before.

  • Have a history of mesothelioma in the family

  • Have had radiation therapy for cancer in the chest  

Let’s Prevent Mesothelioma

The most powerful tool we have in our arsenal is knowledge. The more we know about this deadly disease, the easier it can be to prevent it. As most mesothelioma diagnoses relate to asbestos, it makes sense that more safety measures and protocols around this hazardous material would help us on our way to preventing mesothelioma.

Following employer safety regulations, leaving asbestos removal to the experts, and testing before undertaking renovations can all go a long way towards preventing this deadly disease.

Karan Kikani