On 29 February 2024 Alana Main, Partner and Angela Italiano, Senior Associate of our Perth office had the pleasure of attending a breakfast hosted by Reflections.
Reflections is a not-for-profit mesothelioma asbestos support organisation in Western Australia.
The breakfast took time to recognise those making a difference in the lives of mesothelioma sufferers. Mesothelioma is an incurable form of asbestos cancer. The breakfast was attended by sufferers, carers, industry leaders and medical professionals including Professor Fraser Brims, Head of the Asbestos Review Program at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Chair of the WA Mesothelioma Registry, Professor Gary Lee, Respiratory Physician as well as Professor Jenette Creaney, Scientific Director of the National Centre of Asbestos Related Diseases (NCARD). The Honourable Simon Milman MLA Secretary to the Minister for Health, the Honourable Martin Aldridge the Shadow Minister for Emergency Services and Commissioner Timothy Kucera of the Industrial Relations Commission of WA were also in attendance.
Casey Beros, a medical journalist whose own father suffered from mesothelioma chaired a panel discussion between Lyn David (a mesothelioma sufferer of 7 years), Professor Brims and Tiffany Allen (from the Construction Training Fund). Together the panel discussed the progress which has been made in treatment of mesothelioma, overall outcomes, difficulties and pitfalls in accessing mesothelioma specific information and support as well as what is being done to prevent the future generations from being exposed to asbestos.
Importantly, Casey and Jo Morris, Director of Reflections spoke about the Hope Companion, a compendium of resources mesothelioma specific resources which Reflections has developed with the support of Rare Cancers Australia. The aim is that these resources, which can be accessed via contacting Reflections, will provide hope and resources to help those diagnosed with this awful asbestos disease.
We congratulate Jo, Lizz Clarke and the team at Reflections for developing such a wonderful comprehensive resource!
Full video of ‘A guide to living well with mesothelioma‘ can be found here.
