Mystery as ‘asbestos cancer’ kills son

Thomas Harry Martin died at the age of 28 after suffering from malignant mesothelioma, a condition more usually the cause of death of older workers who have been exposed to asbestos fibres many decades earlier.

But a post mortem examination found no evidence of asbestos in Mr Martin’s lungs, an inquest in Huddersfield heard yesterday.

His mother Pamela Martin, a retired teacher from Holmfirth, described how her son had spent two years living and working in Australia before returning to England and working in Norfolk and then in Newcastle, as a barman.

He had been healthy and fit but while working in Newcastle had given up running and cycling, telling his family that he had been feeling tired.

In February last year, on a trip to Dublin, he told his mother that he had not felt well enough to drink any Guinness.

After blood tests, a doctor referred him immediately to hospital in Newcastle where he was reunited with his mother.

“Thomas did not look at all well. He was told, one week later, that he was suffering from mesothelioma. I was devastated and Thomas could not believe it,” she told the inquest in a statement.

Mrs Martin said she tried to think back to any possible exposure to asbestos but couldn’t recall any.

Her son returned to Huddersfield and underwent chemotherapy for three months in Leeds.

In September last year Mr Martin decided he wanted his independence back but a month later had to go into hospital. Although he went back home his condition suddenly deteriorated and he had to be admitted to Kirkwood Hospice in Huddersfield.

He was described by Mrs Martin as frail, restless and in pain. He died peacefully on November 12 last year.

Mrs Martin told the hearing there did not seem to be an answer to what had caused the disease.

Dr Philip Batman, who conducted the post mortem examination, suggested a gene mutation as a cause but this was only a possibility.

Mrs Martin said the absence of asbestos in her son’s lungs had provided some comfort to her and her son’s four siblings that they were not in any danger from previous exposure to asbestos.

West Yorkshire coroner Professor Paul Marks ruled that the malignant mesothelioma had arisen as an extremely rare condition, albeit a natural one and not one caused by any form of industrial exposure to asbestos.

He told Mrs Martin: “I cannot begin to understand how this must have come, completely out of the blue, to an otherwise completely healthy young man. You have my deepest sympathies for your sad loss.”

Outside court, Mrs Martin said her son, who was a former student at Honley High School, Huddersfield New College and Huddersfield Technical College, had been diagnosed with mesothelioma a year ago this week. “It’s a vile disease. As a family, with four other children, I guess we are relieved that it’s not asbestos.”

She described her son as a popular and well loved young man. “His funeral was an amazing tribute from people who came from all over the place. He was a great guy.”