A family from Co Down are campaigning for access to better support services after their dad's death from a rare form of cancer earlier this year.
Tony Rodgers passed away on New Year's Day 2022 at home in Newry surrounded by his wife and three loving daughters. In July 2017, he had been diagnosed with mesothelioma just after he had retired and turned 60.
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lungs or abdomen that is caused by exposure to asbestos. Tony and his family were unsure what had caused this exposure, and when exposure would have happened, as he was a life-long social worker.
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Now, his family are working hard to raise awareness of this devastating disease, and are campaigning for support services in Northern Ireland to be brought up to the same standards as in mainland UK.
"It was awful, it was a really big shock when he received his diagnosis," Tony's daughter, Niamh, told Belfast Live.
"The idea that what dad had being due to asbestos had been thrown about, but we felt relatively reassured at the beginning thinking there was no way he could have this because he hadn't been in contact with asbestos, but unfortunately that's what it turned out to be.
"We never found out where he had been in contact with it. Dad was a social worker all his life, so we have never been able to find out. It's like a needle in a haystack, but I think that's what is so scary is any of us could be exposed at any time and not know."
Mesothelioma occurs when the tiny fibres from asbestos get in the lungs, where they get stuck and damage the lungs over time. It usually takes a while for this to cause any obvious problems, with mesothelioma typically developing more than 20 years after exposure to asbestos.
Niamh said her dad had always been fit and active, so when he first started experiencing mild symptoms they didn't think too much of it.
She said: "My dad was incredibly fit, he was fitter than me to be honest. He would've walked for miles every day.
"He trained big Labradors and he ran field trials with them so he was up and down the country doing that. He never smoked, he detested it actually - he used to joke with us about it and say there was no way we were to bring it into the house! He also never drank, then all of a sudden this happens.
"Dad was a bit short of breath and had a very mild cough. I remember thinking at the time it wouldn't be an issue with his lungs, as he has a great set of lungs, but no this is what happened."
Describing her dad as "a real family man," Niamh said he is incredibly missed by the full family circle.
"He has three daughters then my mummy, so there were five of us in the family. Four girls tucking around him all the time, he never got a minute's peace, he was tortured with all of us," she added.
"But he really was the centrepoint of our family, he was the person we always turned to for advice and we really are lost without him, we miss him an incredible amount.
"He has four beautiful grandchildren who he absolutely doted on, one of whom was unfortunately born just four days after daddy passed away. But he was a brilliant papa to them, he just loved them.
"Unfortunately because of what happened, he will never get the chance to see them grow up and do the things ordinary grandparents should do."
On average, people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma pass away within 12 months. Niamh puts her dad's fight of four and a half years against the disease down to his outlook on life.
They're hoping that by helping to fundraise for Mesothelioma UK, crucial support services and treatments can be brought to Northern Ireland to help people diagnosed with the rare form of cancer.
Niamh said: "As a family, soon after dad passed away we thought to try and raise some sort of awareness of how devastating it is and what it can do to people. Asbestos is in so many public buildings, we thought we could get the word out about how it can really harm people. If you're working in it, don't think it won't affect you or won't affect you for years so there's no problem being around it.
"We reached out to Mesothelioma UK in the days after daddy passed away. Northern Ireland doesn't have much in the way of specialist care, so we don't have any clinical specialists or benefits advisors, or things completely specific to mesothelioma whereas mainland UK do.
"We reached out to see if we could work alongside them to provide a bit more support for patients, including things like access to clinical trials and other specialist treatment that isn't currently available here. There are families here who are diagnosed and just have to live with it.
"The prognosis for it is poor, most patients don't survive more than 12 months. But dad survived over four and a half years so part of us reaching out as well was to try and instil a bit more positivity to families embarking on the journey.
"Daddy was a massively positive man, from the word go he was positive, and we really think that played a vital role in him fighting the illness and surviving as long as he did."
You can donate to the family's fundraiser for Mesothelioma UK HERE.
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