Dumbarton widow can tell when people are dying of mesothelioma just by looking at them

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The widow of a welder from Dumbarton who died of asbestos-related cancer said she is able to tell when people are dying of mesothelioma just by looking at them - as a new book is released detailing personal stories of victims of asbestos.Usually lethal shortly after symptoms appear, mesothelioma is a type of cancer that takes several years to develop when asbestos fibres are inhaled.William Baird, a Clydeside welder from Dumbarton, died in September 1996 after being diagnosed with the cancer.As a committed advocate for Clydebank Asbestos Group, Joan Baird, 85, kept up the campaign for justice.The Clydebank Asbestos Group supports those who have developed illnesses as a result of workplace exposure to asbestos and recently developed a book, in collaboration with Digby Brown Solicitors, named ‘Asbestos and Clydebank’, sharing poignant stories about how asbestos-related disease affects victims and their families.Joan has spoken on how important it is to spread awareness of the effects of asbestos, she said: “I have seen many people who have worked alongside asbestos, and it is like watching walking death.“I have seen so many cases that when I walk along the street, I see people, and I say, ‘you’re dying of mesothelioma’. “I have sat beside and interacted with so many people dying of it. “It is rife across the world, and it will go on and on for hundreds of years before the effects of asbestos are eradicated.

It is a worry. We have to keep highlighting it as regularly as possible.”Joan was mentioned in the book as being a key figure in the Chester Street Rally, where thousands successfully protested the insurance group, Chester Street after it announced it was going into liquidation, which meant an end to compensation