Andrew Winder, 49, found out he had mesothelioma in June of last year and said it had a deep impact on every aspect of his life.
‘‘It’s changed my life completely — lost my job, family ... it’s affected everyone.’’
He is undergoing immunotherapy treatment but his diagnosis is terminal: his specialist told him he had 18 months with treatment, 16 without.
‘‘But she said it probably wouldn’t last.’’
However, he marked a year of treatment last month and said things have been stable.
This has given him an opportunity to start advocating for change when it comes to asbestos safety — or the lack thereof.
‘‘I just started as a regular residential electrician and that’s where I think it happened — in Southland there’s hundreds of asbestos-lined electrical panels.’’
He was never properly trained or informed on how to deal with the deadly material and most supervisors had a ‘‘common sense’’ approach, he said.
‘‘I’ve been with a company for 15 years that has a health and safety meeting every Monday — not once has there been talk of asbestos or those sorts of things.’’
The part that hurt the most about his diagnosis was the fact it was ‘‘definitely preventable’’.
In an asbestos timeline by WorkSafe, the importing of white material was banned in 1999, followed by a ban of all goods containing asbestos and the Health and Safety at Work Act asbestos regulations enacted in 2016.
Mr Winder was frustrated by the lack of action and training for asbestos, saying the actions taken by the government had ‘‘just been put on paper and brushed under the rug’’.
‘‘The government will know the statistics on asbestos-related cases ... I’d say there’ll be maybe even thousands of cases of people, there may be more than that.’’
He cited the fact that asbestos does not just cause cancer but can also cause asbestosis, a non-cancerous lung disease which causes breathing difficulties typically 10-30 years after initial exposure.
‘‘My case is the worst-case scenario with asbestos.
‘‘It’s the one that you really don’t want.’’
Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer caused by scarring to the lungs from exposure to asbestos.
His wife, Cherie Winder, said her husband’s diagnosis had impacted the whole family, but also sparked anger at the government.
‘‘They’re not enforcing prevention.
‘‘They’ve got the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff when it could be prevented at the top.’’ she said.
It would likely cost the government more to keep treating asbestos-related cancer than to train people in preventive measures, she said.
Mr Winder had a medical scare in 2020 relating to his right lung.
The results after a sample was taken were benign.
‘‘Cherie and I went to get the diagnosis thinking it was going to be benign again, but when they started they used the word ‘unfortunately’.’’
Upon hearing that word he immediately broke down; the rest of the appointment was a blur, he said.
‘‘Cherie asked all the questions ... trying to get some answers.’’
Having to tell the rest of his family, including his two daughters, was ‘‘pretty terrible’’.
‘‘Everyone was sobbing in their seats. The news was the worst-case scenario.’’
After his initial breakdown at the appointment he went into organisation mode, figuring out what he needed to prepare, he said.
‘‘That was the first few months for me, making sure everything was ticked.’’
Starting treatment was difficult, he said it was ‘‘invasive’’ and he had ‘‘never had so many needles’’.
Mr Winder had spent a lot of time with family over the last year, with one of his daughters pushing her wedding forward so he would be able to attend.
Mr Winder has now started working with the Mesothelioma Support and Asbestos Awareness Trust.
‘‘One of the big things they were pushing was the play-sand that had asbestos in it.’’
He hoped one day they would be able to line up workers across different trades to get solid statistics about the effects of asbestos.
‘‘I think about builders, plumbers and all those others that are hands-on with asbestos-lined products in New Zealand ... there are nurses who have got it due to the fact that hospitals they were working in had asbestos-lagged pipes.’’
The Winders saw this whole situation as completely preventable with simple training and education from the government.
‘‘The asbestos module doesn’t have to change or be different between trades ... just like a module or paper that actually gives some awareness in that space.’’ he said.
‘‘It’s been around for so long: why have they not done anything about it?’’
