Mesothelioma

View Larger ImageFederal Agricultural Minister Chuck Strahl speaks at the B.C.

Cancer Research Centre yesterday.Jon Murray, The ProvinceEmail to a friendPrinter friendlyFont: ****Strahl, 50, cracked up the room by joking he couldn't even pronounce the cancer, which attacks the membrane around the lungs, when first diagnosed in 2005.But as specialists looked on intently, the Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon MP offered a more philosophical message."My unfortunate experience in the cancer-fighting industry is that what patients are also looking for from you .

.

.

is some hope," he said.Strahl said it was comforting to know specialists were working to beat the cancer, which has been found in only a few hundred Canadians."[Patients] don't need you to cry at their bedside," Strahl said, speaking to an audience that included Deb, his wife of 32 years."They don't need you to hold their hands and walk through things, moment by moment, but what they do need is some sense of hope.

They need a sense that somebody cares about this enough to research this."Read more...