Keith Barket’s family and loved ones are remembering their beloved husband, father, friend, on the occasion of his birthday: November 12th.

If you’d like to give a birthday gift in honor of Keith, please visit our new Foundation page to make a donation to the Keith F. Barket Mesothelioma Research Fund at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI).

Your donation can make a positive impact on the lives of many people. Thank you for considering making a gift in memory of Keith F. Barket. All gifts, of any size, are greatly appreciated.

Excerpted from original article published by Cancer Monthly. Visit the Surviving Mesothelioma website for more news, information, and resources.

A decade after the attack on the World Trade Centers, health officials are bracing for latent health effects such as mesothelioma among the tens of thousands of people exposed to toxic dust at the scene.

The collapse of the World Trade Centers in 2001 released huge clouds of dust and spread high levels of airborne pollutants across Manhattan and part of Brooklyn, New York.  Asbestos fibers, which causes mesothelioma, was one of the pollutants released.  Malignant mesothelioma is a disease in which a cancer grows on the mesothelium, the membrane that forms the lining of several body cavities.

An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 responders suffered the most concentrated exposure, but thousands of other people who were just in the area at the time – particularly in the first three days after the disaster – are also likely to have inhaled at least some toxic smoke and particulates including asbestos.  [  Read more …  ]