Francie Rangi's husband, James, a former employee of the old Oamaru Hospital, died from metastatic small cell lung cancer (liver and bone) in 1997 aged 50.
Mrs Rangi contacted the ODT last week to say she fully supported Lois Gilchrist, of Oamaru, who was taking legal action against ACC to get it to accept that her partner Rodney Gilchrist's cancer was linked to the asbestos he was exposed to during 21 years working at the hospital and later as the caretaker on site when the facility was undergoing demolition.
Mrs Rangi's husband worked in the Oamaru Hospital's boiler house as a boilerman for 20 years.
"He got sick in 1995 and went through lots of diagnoses until finally in 1996 it was proven to be asbestosis,'' she said.
She tried to get compensation from the Southern District Health Board, but dropped the case when she was advised she might not win.
She said she wanted to offer Mrs Gilchrist support in what she believed would be a long and arduous journey.
Her own fight was "mind-boggling'' at the time and she had only got through it with the support of family and her lawyer.
"Without the help of my family I don't think I could have done it. I didn't know where to start.
"It took me about a year to get myself around most things. I had a good lawyer that helped me.
"It's all coming back and now giving support to Lois and going through documents together, brings back a load of memories and we have a cry together.''
She was working on creating a list of people who worked at the hospital and recently died to find out if their deaths could be linked to asbestos exposure.
"It's a killer. I'm wondering how many other wives are out there who have lost their husbands to an [asbestos]-related disease.''
She produced a letter dated 1997 from the then Department of Labour to Serco Health, that said during an investigation into a serious harm accident, loose asbestos was noted in the boiler house.
The letter's author said a lack of action over several years placed staff at risk and might have caused Mr Rangi's illness.
When contacted, Serco Health was unable to comment immediately. The Southern District Health Board said it would respond within 20 working days.
