Started in 2004, Mesothelioma Awareness Day lands on September 26 this year. Not only does this very important day bring more awareness to mesothelioma — a cancer typically linked to asbestos exposure — but it also helps generate funding to fight this deadly disease.
The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation is encouraging everyone — including family, friends and coworkers — to wear blue leading up to Mesothelioma Awareness Day in order to help raise awareness. After all, mesothelioma is a disease that can affect anyone.
Mesothelioma: A continuing problem
Mesothelioma Awareness Day is particularly important since this is a disease that is actually becoming more common, and many people simply aren’t aware.
In fact, according to a report published earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not only were there more than 45,000 deaths linked to mesothelioma from 1999 to 2015, but there were 5 percent more meso deaths in 2015 than there were in 1999.
One of the most frightening aspects of mesothelioma is that victims often do not suffer from any symptoms until decades after they were exposed to dangerous asbestos fibers. This means that there may still be countless victims out there who worked around asbestos years ago, but haven’t encountered medical problems yet. Sadly, it may be only a matter of time before many of these individuals develop mesothelioma.
While there still is no effective treatment for mesothelioma, researchers and doctors are constantly conducting new trials and studies. Hopefully, in time, a cure can be found for this horrible cancer.
