Mesothelioma

Islington Council admitted liability and has agreed to pay Cheryl compensation.Cheryl is undergoing chemo-therapy at St Bartholomew's Hospital, but is bravely continuing to work four hours a day as a police community support officer in Sussex.She said: "I was exposed to asbestos while hanging out with my friends as a teenager.

"Now I have transferred to light duties as a police officer, a job I love.

I can't do the things I used to, but work is the one thing that keeps me going."I don't know how much longer I have.

I live each day as it comes.

I try to be positive and I hope one day they will come up with a miracle cure."I want to make more people aware of this disease.

Its not just old men who get Young men and women who have never worked in industry can also contract it too, with the same devastating effects."Ian McFall, head of asbestos policy at Thompsons, who dealt with Cheryl's compensation claim, said: "Cheryl is an inspirational woman who continues to fight the disease while continuing to work in a challenging role as a police officer.

She has to be admired for her courage."Richard Hill, Islington Council's director of customer focus, said: "Our deepest sympathies are with Ms Marsh for her illness, which resulted from exposure to asbestos many years ago.

Since this happened, local authorities have become much more awa...

The department said last month it will study whether the deaths are linked to asbestos or asbestos-like fibers in iron ore dust, and whether exposure limits are needed.

A 2003 study, faulted by mine workers and others, said the cause probably was commercial asbestos used in taconite-plant furnaces and other mining equipment.

While at least 52 men have died, more than 200 miners have filed workers' compensation claims alleging that working in the taconite mines caused their lung-scarring asbestosis and other lung ailments.

Many live with the fear that the fibers and fragments scarring their lungs will someday trigger the latest deadly case of "Hopefully it never blossoms," Karl Oberstar Jr., 55, said of his asbestosis, which was detected in a screening arranged by his union in the late 1990s.

He worked 31 years as a millwright and mechanic for LTV Steel Mining Co.

in Hoyt Lakes.

Oberstar remembers dumping bags of dusty asbestos into "a big mixing bowl" while making a fire-resistant paste to seal furnaces.

"You could just see the particles everywhere," he said.

"The air never seemed clear." Highlighting the fickleness of asbestos exposure, or perhaps of fate, Oberstar's father, ...

advertisement Ms Marsh was exposed to asbestos when she was 13 playing in the boiler rooms in the basement of her parent's council flat in north London.

She was one of a group of 20 children who congregated in the boiler rooms during the winter evenings.

She said it was covered in asbestos dust but at the time they did not know it was dangerous.

She was also exposed to asbestos later when employed by Islington Borough Council's social services department where she worked on a motorcycle scheme.

She came into contact with the dust when stripping down and sanding asbestos brake pads.

She was never told it could harm her health.

Islington Borough Council admitted liability and has agreed to pay Ms Marsh compensation.

Ms Marsh became one of the first community support officers to be recruited by Sussex Police when she was taken on by the force in 2002.

Last year she won a Sussex Police Award for her "dedication and professionalism" and still works four hours a day despite her illness.

There is no cure for the illness - often associated with former shipyard and factory workers - which can take up to 40 years to develop.

Often