Each year thousands of people are diagnosed with mesothelioma, a fatal form of cancer for which there is no known cure. Tragically, it is an entirely preventable disease. Mesothelioma has become known as “asbestos cancer,” and is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos in the work place. Mesothelioma can hide silently in the body for as long as 40 years before there are any signs or symptoms of disease and the dreaded cancer diagnosis.
If you or a loved one is suffering as the result of mesothelioma, it is important that you contact a mesothelioma lawyer today. The attorneys at Jackowiak Law Offices have years of experience representing personal injury victims and can make sure you get the compensation you deserve.
What Is Asbestos?
For over 200 years, asbestos has been widely used for all sorts of commercial purposes, particularly in the manufacturing and building industries. Why? Asbestos is flexible (it can be shaped easily), is extremely hard to catch on fire, and is almost impossible to destroy. When its characteristics have been compared with the risks of harming a work force, companies have often fallen to the temptation of incorporating asbestos into their manufacturing and work processes.
What Causes Mesothelioma?
There are two ways that asbestos fibers find their way into the human body: workers diagnosed with mesothelioma have had exposure either by breathing in asbestos (inhaling the tiny fibers) or by swallowing it (ingesting the fibers). The majority of victims have had contact with asbestos as part of their job. Nevertheless, any exposure to the toxins can result in the disease, and many cases of mesothelioma have resulted from a spouse, child, or other loved one who came into contact with asbestos fibers attached to a worker’s clothing, shoes, gloves, or the like that made their way into the home.
Mesothelioma: The Three Forms
There are three common forms of mesothelioma. Like other cancers, all forms are able to spread to other parts of the body (“metastasize”), with victims eventually tormented by other types of cancer as well. These types of mesothelioma are:
- Pleural. The most common form of mesothelioma, pleural mesothelioma forms when a worker breathes in asbestos fibers that lodge in the walls of the air passages and inside the lung tissues.
- Peritoneal. Peritoneal mesothelioma results when someone swallows the toxic asbestos fibers, where they flow down the digestive system, lodging in intestinal walls, where they will eventually turn into abdominal cancer as well as spreading cancerous tumors.
- Pericardial. Pericardial mesothelioma occurs when asbestos fibers are swallowed and from the digestive system they find their way to the lymph glands, entrenching inside the mesothelium lining of the heart.
Contact a Chicago Mesothelioma Lawyer Today
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the help of a Chicago mesothelioma lawyer is invaluable. Don’t go through this alone. Call us today at 312-795-9595, or contact us online to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. The team at Jackowiak Law Offices will review your case and help you take the next steps toward recovery.
