Oh, what’s it say? He was only young.
It was exciting. We, we were only babies and married two years, eighteen month old son,
our first home And we wanted to do it ourselves! It came
in the kit form, but part of was that you had to pay for someone to paint it, or you
could paint it yourself. the only thing we could do to save some money,
was to paint it. and we had to sand the walls first and 24
years later... Adam was leading a very fast life. He was
training to go to the world championships for his martial arts that he was doing.
yeah, probably the fittest he'd, he'd ever been, and probably just starting to get his
life together, going in the right direction And he'd rung me and said, 'I'm just not feeling
very well; I keep having this flu, and it won't go away'.
he'd been to a doctor, and the doctor said he was just training too hard; to, to slow
up. And then he was at work one day, and he leant forward, and he got a pain up under
his rib cage. So he went to a different doctor who took
x-rays. And he went straight to have the x-ray and
found fluid on his lungs. She sent him to emergency and they drained the fluid off his
lungs and said go home now, you’re ok now. Two days later, he was feeing a bit sicker
And we took him straight to his doctor, who did an x-ray, and the fluid was back; straight
to the Emergency. And I think it was six or seven weeks before he was out.
They just did test, after test, after test. They had no idea.
They, they found some, what they said was mesoth-mesothelial cells, but ... that they
took one look at him, and said he's too young; that they can't be right.
This is just impossible, so that's why they just kept testing, and testing.
After being in hospital for five weeks, all he wanted to do was go home, and have
a shower in his own shower, so he went home. he went in for a shower and then his phone
rang… and I picked it up, and it was the specialist
that used to be with him in the hospital. And she said, 'I'm just ringing to let you
know that I've got the test results back, and I need to tell you that Adam has got malignant
mesothelioma, and he's going to be in great pain.' I said 'So... but he's gonna be okay?
We just need to learn how to manage this pain.' And she said, 'No, he'll be dead in six months'.
And I remember closing his phone, and thinking, I'm pleased I took that phone call, but how
do I tell my son he's gonna die? And so, we broke, broke that to him, and he
said, 'Oh well…” And he said, “it’s all good, they don't
know me; it's all good”. No, I had no idea what mesothelioma was. No
idea. That mesothelioma that he got is an asbestos
disease. Well, we where told there was nowhere else to get it from.
The diseases that people potentially get from exposure to asbestos, there are three main
diseases. There's asbestosis, which is a, a dusting or a scarring of the lungs… bronchogenic
carcinoma ... that's doctor-speak for the ordinary sort of lung cancer ... and also
mesothelioma, which is a, a nasty tumour, which arises on the membrane that surrounds
the outside of the lungs, and the inside of the ribs.
So far as asbestos is concerned, people need to appreciate that the disease results from
exposure to very, very f-fine particles. And they're usually produced when people are cutting
it with a saw, or an angle grinder, or something like that. When it's just sitting there, it's
a potential risk. But that potential is usually not realised unless someone starts damaging
it, or breaking it, or cutting it. We were racking our brains trying to figure
out why or where and the only thing that I could remember was being covered in dust,
when we were painting our new first home; it was just sitting in the air where we were
working Adam was with us on certain days.
And he’d had this…this little pink dustpan and brush and he used to have a great time,
he was always busy. They traced it back, that our home was one
of the last ones that was produced using the asbestos sheeting.
Because it’ the outerface that you paint, and all that sort of stuff, all the warnings
were on the inside. I always felt that once we found out where
it came from ... that our job as parents, are to protect our children, and we didn't
do that. When people find that they're diagnosed with
an Asbestos-related disease, they feel very confused, very isolated, very frightened,
and they really don't know where to turn. And this is where the Society comes into its
own. The support and the services that the Society
offers, is medical; legal advice; occupational therapy services; dietician and nutritional
advice; phone support; support groups; people may need financial assistance and when things
are really tough, they are just marvellous They were sensational, to be honest. They
... the Asbestos Society gave us so much information, and so much help.
There 'is' no cure for any of the Asbestos-related diseases. There's only management. And so,
when you're living with that, knowing that there 'is' no cure, you try to make the very
best of every day that, that you have, because you really don't know how many that you're
going to have. he would only have minute moments of panic.
And, you know, like, Christmas was a really hard time for him. We were all positive, because
of him. So he was boosting us all up. And then, all of a sudden, he's a mess out on
the stairs! And we were like, 'Hang on a minute, like, Christmas is great! We're ha-having
fun at Christmas!' But he knew he was his 'last' Christmas. So he just had this wave
of, yeah, sadness. I think he just was kinda taking it all in, as if that would be the
last time he would celebrate Christmas with his family.
He loved his family. And when he 'was' sick, all he wanted, was all of us around. He didn’t
want to do anything else. let’s just us. We’re good.
We had lots of conversations, Adam and I, that he couldn't have with Mum and Dad. So
I was a little bit more aware of where he was at, in terms of thinking whether he was
going to fight it or not. I'd say, you know, 'What do you wish you could
do right now? Like, if you could change right now, what do you wish you could do?'
And he said ‘ I don't want to have to, you know, struggle to breathe to get out of bed,
and struggle to walk down the hallway, and not be able to get down the stairs; I just
want to be able to go [snaps fingers], and be there'. And so we were able to have those
conversations. That was just two days before he died.
he went to bed the night of the 28th of April. But then he woke us all up, having trouble
breathing, at about 3:00 o'clock, on the 29th of April,
When we got him to the hospital yet again. His eyes were really milky and just… nothing.
There was nothing. And, they tried to put a tube down his throat
to get more oxygen into his lungs, but he, he'd obviously decided that it was his time
to go And I said to the nurse, you know, 'Is this,
is this it?' And he said, 'Yep.' All I could say was, 'Oh, oh mate!' Just keep
breathing! You can breathe!' and Adam closed his eyes, and I thought, Oh,
okay ... so, that's it'. And then he opened his eyes, sorry ... and
they were crystal clear. Beautiful blue. And he looked at Don, and he looked at me, and
he smiled at both of us, and then he just closed his eyes again. And I just think how
much energy and courage that would have taken to do that; to let us know that he was okay,
and that he wasn't in any pain. And that it was ok for him to go.
Well we had to tell…had to tell everyone. And now we're 'still' telling everyone, don't
let it happen ... please don’t... the guilt just eats away at them. I think
they deal with it better now. Don was devastated. He used to feel very responsible
I know at the time, I thought I was saving our family some money,
people have said to me, 'What 'were' you thinking?' 'Well, we didn't know!
I was thinking that I was doing the best by my family at the time.
I wish we had of been more aware. You know, 30, 40 years ago, asbestos materials
were, were commonly used in, in new building materials. There was definitely a lack of
awareness … and it was not just the Sagers; you know, it was ... most, most of the community
just weren't aware Even today, people do not know what asbestos
is, or where asbestos can be located. And that is a very frightening thought.
Even now, I, unfortunately I see examples where, particularly tradesmen, either through
naivety, or, or, or perhaps because they're not being careful enough, just go in and start
cutting it or drilling it, without giving it the, the thought it needs.
I think the problem is that people don't see that there's an immediate hazard, and so just
proceed, hoping it'll be okay. People often think of it as an old person's
disease… there's a very, often a very long lag time between exposure, and development
of disease. So while the disease might be affecting older people, it's the exposure
when you're young that may be responsible for that disease. So, young people can't afford
to ignore it. our big concern now is the home renovators,
the DIY, because they don't necessarily know where there 'may' actually be Asbestos in
their, their home. there was approximately 3,000 different products
that contained Asbestos. We should actually make the assumption that
Asbestos materials are present in houses or buildings, particularly built before 1990,
Awareness saves lives. It is, yeah. I mean, awareness is, is the
whole solution. If, if we're aware of it, and think of it, we can, we can take appropriate
steps to either avoid it, or work with it safely
So find out what's in the house. Just, take a moment to just gather all the information.
There's no excuse for being ignorant now. There's so much information about it.
we recommend that anyone contemplating doing some work on a on a building that was built
before 1990, that they should have the material tested. It's a relatively simple test…
Find out what’s there, learn how to remove it properly
make sure that the people that you're getting to do the work they are professional qualified
licensed people. so the clear message is, you don't know what
your future exposure will be. So every time you're working with asbestos containing materials,
use the controls that prevent fibres from becoming airborne and breathed in. Its
not only your own health that you're putting at risk. You can potentially put at risk the
health of people who are, who are nearby. And that's kinda what you need to remember,
when you tamper with it ... is, who am I impacting? Just do what you need to do, to keep your
family safe. That's our, that's our aim in life, I think, isn't it? Keep the ones you
love, safe? We’re still picking up the pieces.
There 'is' that thing in the back of your mind saying, 'I-If I 'hadn't' have done it,
we would still be having these great Christmases; we would probably be a-, a lot better off;
a lot better off'. And, people used to say to me, 'It's okay
... everything happens for a reason'. And I haven't quite worked out the reason why
I'll never hear the sound of my son's voice again. How do you reconcile the fact that
you'll 'never' hear their voice? That you'll never feel them hug you; that he'll never
know his nephew. he reminds me of Adam.
I definitely see shades of Adam, yeah; cheeky little monkey.
Just him being here makes me feel like Adam’s closer.
We have a photo on our fridge, and we say goodnight to him every night, and tell him
that we miss him, and we wish he was here. So it's kind of bittersweet, 'cause it's nice
that he's around, and brings a lot of joy into our family. But it's also incredibly
sad that it's not Adam's, and he's not having any kids, and he'll never meet Fletcher.
My brother's always been into Asian inspired things, and he loved the Japanese Gardens
at Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, and would always go there, even before he was sick.
and then, particularly after he was unwell. He used to find a lot of solitude there.
they've allowed us to put a bench seat out the front of the Japanese area, under a big
clump of bamboo. And it's a beautiful spot. I love sitting on benches and knowing that
a guy’s made it and dedicated it to his wife. I think that's nice. And I hope that
people feel the same way, when they get to sit with Adam, yeah.
I hate lookin' at his name. Just to see those dates in print, are t