Robert Owen CMIOSH was diagnosed with mesothelioma in September last year and sadly died six months later. He always believed that the professional advice he gave to organisations throughout his career saved many people from unnecessary pain and injury, and maybe even death. By writing this personal case study, it was his intention to continue to provide that advice by warning others of the dangers of asbestos.

"My experience as a health and safety consultant over more than 20 years has taught me that you can never know enough. As you come across new issues you need to investigate them, identify the relevant legislation, and work out the advice best suited to the client.

"Issues that are practical in nature – machinery, noise, etc. – are well documented and therefore can be readily dealt with. The problem issues tend to be those relating to health – an area more difficult to find information about, although the Internet has helped enormously. Sometimes, though, the best source of information is personal experience. So here's mine – of the asbestos-related condition mesothelioma."

The past always catches up

"During the 1960s I served an apprenticeship as a heating engineer, which involved work with asbestos-cased pipe insulation materials. The exposure could be extreme at times and no hazard warning was provided, either by the employer or by the college during C&GLI training. I completed my apprenticeship at the age of 21. I have not worked with asbestos since.

"Forty years later, in 2005, I noticed that when gardening or undertaking any exercise activity, my breathing became laboured very quickly and I would need to stop for a rest. I put this down to smoking and age and so did not report to my doctor. In December that year, I lost my appetite for many things but, being overweight, I didn't worry as I figured, well, I could do with losing a few pounds. But when I'd lost more than two stone and felt no fitter or better in any way, I finally went to my GP. As soon as I mentioned shortness of breath he asked about asbestos. Of course, I knew the implications.

"After x-rays and CT scans I was diagnosed with mesothelioma on 8 September 2006 and told that if I lived for 12 months it would be a bonus."

The treatment

"Initial treatment was three doses of chemotherapy at two-week intervals, each requiring an overnight stay in hospital while hooked up to a drip. Chemotherapy essentially is feeding you highly toxic substances in the hope that they will kill the tumours. The effects of this are that you feel extremely uncomfortable all the time. There is no pain, or anything you can pin down, so I continued to work.

"After the chemotherapy I then underwent ten doses of radium treatment, as a new tumour had developed in my spine. Side effects of this were negligible for me – just some of loss of urgency and motivation. Others can suffer physical side effects, such as tooth loss or injuries."

Painful times

"Early this year I developed extreme pain in my right leg, and any bump in the car caused back pain, despite the cocktail of pain suppressants I was on. Every day the pain would commence during the afternoon, and increase to agony by the late evening. It would then continue through to the early hours of the next morning. To relieve the pain I could sit for maybe five minutes but then had to walk for 10-15 minutes. I could only do so with the aid of a stick; it was not unusual to see me limping the streets at 3 or 4am, my face taut in a grimace of pain.

"The doctors and consultants had no way to ease this pain, as none of the drugs they were using had any effect. At the beginning of February I accepted that I had to look elsewhere for pain relief and so resorted to the "herbal remedy" used by MS sufferers. Illegal or not, when you experience the level of pain I was in you throw your principles out the window. This remedy worked for me, both quickly and for 12-16 hours.

"On 22 February I woke up to find that my left leg would no longer support my weight. With the aid of my wife and a friend I struggled to the bathroom and returned to an armchair. I knew no more until 2pm, when the ambulance people were putting me in a wheelchair.

"The next five days were spent in a hospital oncology department, having more radium. Overnight, between 21 and 22 February, it turned out that the tumours in my spine had damaged the central nervous system to such an extent that I had no control over any of the nerves that connect to the diaphragm, or below. I couldn't walk or even stand, but at least the leg pain was gone. After five days' treatment – which achieved nothing – I was, very fortunately, transferred to the Marie Curie Centre in Liverpool.

"On awaking on my first morning there I took stock of my position: bed-bound for the rest of my short life; no work, as my share of R&R Safety Systems, the company I started with my business partner and friend Ray, had been sold; so WHAT USE WAS I? I now know what depression can do to the mind. When the tumours appeared I wanted to know about immediate euthanasia – you cannot get any lower than this.

"Fortunately, the Marie Curie Centre was equipped to deal with such situations. It helped me set a target for limited mobility and explained how we would achieve it together. Within two days, my mental state had improved dramatically, and after 12 days I came home in my wheelchair. It allows me to get around the bungalow where I live and I can get to the rooms I want to.

"The gradually deteriorating shortness of breath does limit what I can do but strangely, now I have accepted my limitations, I can live with them. Much has to be done for me now, and this puts great strain on my wife – especially as I used to do the things for her, to alleviate her rheumatoid arthritis!"

Support network

"The NHS has been extremely helpful in providing the aids that I need – wheelchair, special bed, hoist, etc, as well as the nurses to help me in and out of bed four times a day. My local authority provides a free wheelchair bus service, for which you can book a journey with four hours notice. The Department for Work and Pensions promptly make payments under the Pneumoconiosis Workmen Compensation Act and Industrial Injuries Death Benefit. This money is of great significance, both practically and mentally, when you can't earn your living.

"To make sure I can earn some income the company I used to be a partner in provides me with examination papers for IOSH's Managing Safely course, as they value me in the development of new syllabi for courses.

"I don't have too long left but the time I have I can use constructively. I would urge all of you to do the same. You no doubt have an asbestos management strategy in place at your premises – please ensure it is rigorously maintained to protect others from suffering the ill health that I have experienced. I am putting a brave face on it, but I would rather have had another 20 years of life."

Robert Owen died the day after writing this story, on 30 March 2007. He was 61.