Former coal mine worker Peter Sharp travelled thousands of kilometres in search of answers after he developed a cough.
Having worked in the industry for more than 40 years, the possibility that the ailment was caused by the deadly pneumoconiosis — also known as black lung disease — was in the back of his mind.
Pneumoconiosis is a potentially fatal disease caused by long-term exposure to coal dust.
It most often stems from working in the coal industry or in the manufacture of graphite or man-made carbon products.
There is no known cure.
"I'd been to doctors for lots of years with the chronic cough … been to Brisbane, to the Wesley Hospital, been to specialists, but no-one could find what it was," Mr Sharp said.
"It was pretty worrying that no-one could find anything."
It was only when he began advocating to get retired miners screened for lung health that he finally got some answers.
But that happened almost by chance.
"Myself and others have been promoting the mobile [screening] unit and we found the first 500 people to be tested, and through that process we sort of forgot about ourselves," he said.
Mr Sharp said he was relieved when he was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis.
Care where it's needed
A specially fitted-out bus, run by not-for-profit group Heart of Australia, has been part of a mobile medical program to regional and remote communities in Queensland for the past 12 months
It has done hundreds of free lung health checks for past and current mine workers.
But Mr Sharp, who volunteers with the Queensland Resources Dust Disease Support Group, said that was only a fraction of those who need to be screened and followed up.
He said more support was needed to ensure no-one was missed.
Heart of Australia head of operations Ewan Wylie said retired miners didn't always stay where the mine were.
"So they have moved away from where there are actually health providers doing mine medicals," Mr Wylie said.
"We've diagnosed people with a range of mine dust lung disease … people with pneumoconiosis [black lung], silicosis, asbestosis, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
"Probably half the people we've diagnosed are already experiencing shortness of breath, so the disease has already progressed to a stage to have a little bit of an impact on their lives."
Mr Sharp said the data so far was concerning.
"The worrying thing about all this is 53 per cent of the people screened have had recalls for further investigation," he said.
"All these people [being screened] are pretty much being found by us volunteers and we need funding to get out and find these people."
Needle in a haystack
Mr Sharp said while it was relatively easy to find retired miners in coal towns, they needed help to find people who had moved away.
"Once we get up to Townsville or Cairns, down on the Sunny Coast and fly-in, fly-out, we don't know any people there," he said.
Mr Wiley said it was important to take the service to areas where the retired miners lived.
"For a population that is quite mobility challenged, it's been a great way of getting them to come forward for testing," he said.
Mr Sharp said the lobby group had met with the state's Mines Resources and Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ) to secure ongoing support.
He said the group had also asked for the free screenings to be extended to port, rail and power workers.
Resources Minister Scott Stewart said the government had provided a range of options to support the organisation and its volunteers.
RSHQ said it regularly met with the group to provide assistance, such as local administrative support, office space and material for promotional activities.
The state government provided $2 million for the construction of the mobile health unit, with RSHQ allocating $2 million for operation of the service.
No decline in cases
Mr Wiley said it was critical that consistent screening continued for retired miners.
"A lot of these diseases have long latency periods, meaning that they turn up a long time after initial exposure," he said.
"The likelihood of tapering off any time soon is pretty unlikely.
"For a change we make in the workplace today, it might be 20 or 30 years before you actually experience that tapering off."
Coal workers' pneumoconiosis was redetected in Queensland in 2015 … it was the first confirmed case in the state in 30 years.
