The fitness fanatic who carried a deadly timebomb

DAVE Craig was the sort of guy who never seemed to get ill. When he turned 50, he was in the kind of physical shape that many younger men would have envied. His passion was cycling. The married father-of-two from Hebburn wouldn't think twice about cycling a bum-numbing 120 miles a day in distance events and also took part in competitive racing over shorter distances. Just to keep his hand in he even cycled 30 miles to and from his work as an electrician everyday.

But in February 2001, he developed a cough which would not go away.

Dave tried to shrug it off but shortly afterwards, on a training run, he suddenly found it difficult to cycle uphill. He managed to cycle the 30 or so miles back home but realised something was seriously wrong.

Dave went to his GP, who immediately referred him to his local hospital for a chest X-ray.

That's when the nightmare began.

Anne, Dave's wife, remembers the phone call from the hospital. "They told him he had to go straight away. They had found something on the X-ray which worried them."

It seemed that Dave's right lung had collapsed and was full of fluid. Doctors admitted him and - unbelievably - drew off three litres of fluid.

More tests followed over the next few months as the couple became increasingly anxious about the situation.

"Dave had never been ill in his life. You could have described him as superfit," says Anne.

Medical tests continued during the spring as doctors tried to establish the underlying cause of Dave's illness, but it wasn't until June 29 - four months since he was taken ill while cycling - that specialists broke the grim news that he had developed mesothelioma, a deadly form of lung cancer triggered by inhaling asbestos fibres. His symptoms were caused by a fast-growing tumour in his lungs.

THE family was devastated. Dave was only 54 and had so much left to do in his life. "We were told there was nothing they could do. There was no treatment and no hope," recalls Anne.

The likeliest cause of his illness was the seven years he spent working at the Vickers Naval Yard on the Tyne in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a 16-year-old school-leaver, Dave began an apprenticeship as an electrician at a time when shipyard workers were regularly exposed to asbestos, an insulating heat-retardant widely used in the construction and repair of ships at that time. He left the shipyards when he was 23 to work at that other former staple of North-East industry, a coal mine at Westoe.

Even though Dave had last worked in the yards in 1973, the cruel legacy of those days was the tumour that was destroying his lungs. In common with most mesothelioma patients, the illness did not become apparent until nearly 30 years had elapsed since he was exposed to airborne asbestos fibres which lodged in his lungs.

Back in June 2001, it was suggested that Dave should be given chemotherapy to try to reduce the size of the tumour. Anne remembers that her brave husband suffered terribly during this time. "He had every side-effect you could imagine - nausea, fatigue and constipation."

At first, it seemed the chemotherapy was working. "The tumour was shrinking. Despite everything we thought he would be the first to beat mesothelioma," remembers Anne.

Dave refused to give in without a fight and amazed his doctors by continuing to cycle up to 20 miles a day. The couple tried to put on a brave face and enjoy the time left to them. Anne remembers poignant trips to the Lake District with their eldest grandson, Oliver, and to Dublin.

But back in Hebburn, the battle with his unrelenting tumour went on.

Dave was given a fourth course of gruelling chemotherapy and suffered agonies with his symptoms and the side-effects of the drugs. "Dave suffered terribly. He was wracked with coughing fits. It sometimes seemed that the cancer was choking him to death," recalls Anne.

"He had to use oxygen day and night. The sweats were terrible, his bedclothes had to be changed over and over again."

The couple knew time was running out and decided to go away with friends for Christmas. "As usual, Dave was the life and soul of the party but everybody knew it was probably his last Christmas," says Anne.

Back home on Tyneside, the couple celebrated Christmas and New Year as well as they could but by the end of January, with his condition deteriorating, Dave was admitted to Newcastle General Hospital. Anne moved in to be by his side.

On February 5, 2002, just seven and a half months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, Dave died.

Anne was distraught with grief but also filled with anger at his needless and premature death. He would never see his three grandsons grow up.

"Dave did not deserve to die in that way. He had never smoked. He was a fitness fanatic. He should have lived another 30 years."

She is bitter that those few early years working in the asbestos-filled environment of the shipyard robbed him of his life at such a young age.

"I wanted to see the word 'manslaughter' on his death certificate. Employers had known for more than 50 years that asbestos causes lung damage. It could have been prevented if only the owners and the Government had taken more care."

Determined to do something about mesothelioma, Anne joined an existing North-East charity, The Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund. Set up by Wallsend widow, Chris Knighton, in memory of her ex-naval husband Mick who also died from mesothelioma in March 2001, the fund recently donated £100,000 to the British Lung Foundation to pay for a two year research project into malignant mesothelioma.

Anne recently told her harrowing story at a seminar, attended by supporters, doctors and lawyers, organised by the Mick Knighton charity in Newcastle on February 28 to mark Action Mesothelioma Day. The event marked the start of a year long campaign led by the British Lung Foundation to raise awareness about the potentially fatal effects of exposure to airborne asbestos fibres.

It is estimated that at least 5,000 Britons a year will die each year as a result of being exposed to asbestos at some time in their life.

That figure is expected to raise to 10,000 by the year 2020, making asbestos the single biggest cause of male mortality in men under the age of 65.

Many of those who become ill have been associated with the shipbuilding industry, which makes the North-East a particular blackspot. But the disease affects a much wider range of occupations, including many building workers, craftsmen and tradesmen, particularly anyone involved in working in buildings constructed before 1980 when asbestos was widely used as a flame-retardant. Even family members of people working with asbestos have been exposed to danger due to fibres being brought home in workclothes.

Health and Safety Executive officials have warned that anyone working in older buildings which are likely to contain asbestos should be aware of the risk of exposure and take appropriate protective measures.

Removal of asbestos must be carried out by specialist, licensed teams.

Anne Craig is encouraged that a new drug, Alimta, which was developed by Professor Hilary Calvert of Newcastle University, is now available to mesothelioma sufferers on the NHS, albeit after a struggle with some recalcitrant primary care trust bosses worried about its cost.

At the moment Alimta can only buy time for mesothelioma sufferers and give them a better quality of life. It is not a cure. But Prof Calvert, who spoke at the same seminar in Newcastle, believes the drug can be made more effective.

As the fight goes on to raise awareness of this terrible disease, Anne treasures her memories of her husband.

"Dave was very brave. I only saw him cry once. It was when he was watching a video of our eldest grandson, Oliver, in his school's Christmas production."

* To get in touch with the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund or make a donation ring 0191-263 7386, send an email to chrisknighton mesorf.freeserve .co.uk or visit http//mickknighton mesorf.mysite.freeserve.com