Our Mesothelioma UK ambassador, Brian Wallis shared the following update recently…
The East of England Patient Support Group (CIO) supported Action Meso Day 2022 and Go Blue for Meso over the weekend of 1 July by attending the locations of Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire and the Old Pack Bridge at St. Ives also in Cambridgeshire, culminating in our Action Mesothelioma Day service at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk on Sunday 3 July. Patients, carers, supporters and trustees gathered at these locations across the East of England region to support mesothelioma causes but also to remember our stalwart volunteer Joseph McConnell (Joe) who passed away in June at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn after a long illness.
Despite Joe’s poor health, he had been an ever-present at many of our fundraising and awareness events and campaigns from Lincoln to Leicester, from London to Lowestoft. Joe (with his wife Eileen and mascot dog “Herbie”) had joined us in 2015 when we were in the process of forming support groups across our region. Joe and Eileen could be seen at many venues and had collected hundreds of pounds for Mesothelioma UK, mesothelioma specialist nurses, cancer research and helping to fund our support groups in East Anglia. Joe would have been 80 years old in August. Joe was born in Carrickfergus, N.I. and came to England in 1962. He was a qualified carpenter and had completed his apprenticeship at the Harland & Wolfe shipyard in Belfast. He had worked on some of the best known building projects in UK. Joe’s career ended when he fell through an asbestos roof when working on a project in London in 1990s. Joe leaves his wife Eileen and an extended family in Northern Ireland and in the Republic. Rest in Peace Joe – and thank you for what you did to raise awareness to the dangers of asbestos exposure in East of England and beyond. Our sincere condolences go out to Eileen and Joe’s family.
