Canadian Minister: Give Mesothelioma Patients Hope

canada.com

VANCOUVER - Chuck Strahl, his rare form of lung cancer apparently at bay, said Saturday that hope is one of the best tonics specialists focused on the ailment can prescribe to patients.

The federal agriculture minister made the remarks to open a symposium on malignant mesothelioma held at the B.C. Cancer Research Centre.

Strahl, 50, cracked up the room by joking he couldn't even pronounce the cancer, which attacks the membrane around the lungs, when first diagnosed in 2005.

But as specialists looked on intently, the MP for the B.C. riding of Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon offered a more philosophical message.

"My unfortunate experience in the cancer-fighting industry is that what patients are also looking for from you ... is some hope," he said.

Strahl said it was comforting to know specialists were working to beat the cancer, which has been found in only a few hundred Canadians.

"(Patients) don't need you to cry at their bedside," Strahl said, speaking to an audience that included Deb, his wife of 32 years.

"They don't need you to hold their hands and walk through things moment by moment. But what they do need is some sense of hope. They need a sense that somebody cares about this enough to research this."

Mesothelioma specialists from across Canada were on hand to open a national dialogue on clinical research and set some research directions.

Strahl noted several times that he would leave the scientific details to experts.

"While you're going through the molecular levels, and you're going through the chemotherapy treatments, and talking about surgical procedures, and you're going through all that, know that through all that, patients, even though they don't understand it all, take great hope in what you're doing," he said.

Strahl, also the senior federal minister for B.C., said in an interview that his cancer has not changed since his diagnosis, allowing him to carry on "despite being more busy than I have ever been in my life."

"It's staying where it was when they did the first CAT scan. That's very unusual with this type of cancer.

"It's usually very aggressive. So far, so good."

Mesothelioma has been linked to asbestos exposure. Strahl, calling his situation a "classic case," has linked his own illness to open asbestos used when he worked in road construction and logging as a young man.

"I just think of the dust. The dust would be so thick. The asbestos dust, you would be wiping it off your face," he said, following the speech.

"You look back on how careless we were. How can you regret it? Nobody knew."

The father of four - and grandfather of six - said his strong Christian faith has helped him cope, largely because it was a fixture of his life before his diagnosis.

"The foxhole is a tough time to start thinking through the big issues of life, and, for me and for our family, you don't like the news," he said.

"But the fact that myself and all of our family have a strong Christian faith means you kind of roll with the punches."