Colin Johnson met his future wife Carol when she was 17. They got married and took the bold decision to move to South Africa where, despite only intending to stay for just a couple of years, they remained for 20 years and brought up a family of three children.
Colin retired and the couple moved back to the UK to a beautiful cottage in Shropshire but their adventures continued. They particularly enjoyed travelling and backpacking around the world. Their daughter even asked: “when are you and dad going to settle down?!”.
Colin was still remarkably fit as he approached his 80th birthday, regularly running 10 miles around his home town of Ironbridge, in addition to scuba diving, mountaineering and more.
Colin and Carol returned to South Africa every 3-4 years and it was during a three-month Golden Wedding trip to Cape Town that Carol noticed a change in Colin’s behaviour. He “wasn’t as enthusiastic”, didn’t have the same “verve” as usual and couldn’t shake off a little cough. When they returned to the UK, Colin went to his GP and was referred to the local hospital that night.
After undergoing tests, it took a while, but Colin eventually received a diagnosis that he had mesothelioma.
Finding out about mesothelioma
Colin said that whilst in hospital, he’d been asked “if I’d been exposed to asbestos”. Carol knew then that it was mesothelioma. Carol was previously a nurse and made it her business to find out more about “this dreadful, dreadful disease”.
They spoke to the East Midlands Asbestos Support Team who came to the house to visit Colin and Carol, and offered guidance about benefits and legal claims.
Colin had regular contact with Mesothelioma UK’s nurse specialists who were “brilliant”, according to Carol. He started on an immunotherapy trial but unfortunately, he didn’t benefit from the treatment and so it didn’t continue. Sadly, Colin only lived another 2-3 months before passing away in 2019.
Support with legal case
Colin was a carpenter during his working life and worked on power stations around 50 years before his diagnosis. Carol says that mesothelioma has “one cause of death -asbestos poisoning” and that although Colin had no clue that he’d been exposed to asbestos, “his employers did”. He worked on council housing and factories in Macclesfield where asbestos was still present.
The couple pursued a legal case and although Colin was able to give evidence, he died two days after the court case. Carol confirms that she was “glad that I did that”, although it “doesn’t compensate for what you’ve gone through”.
Colin and Carol’s solicitors, Irwin Mitchell were “fabulous”, according to Carol and “took it all off my shoulders. I couldn’t have got through it without them. They really helped me and people need to know they’re not on their own.”
“One of the worst tragedies”
Carol continues: “Somebody is responsible – Colin died because of asbestos. I’m still very angry as there’s no need for these deaths.
“It’s one of the worst tragedies and is still going on. People are sleepwalking towards a crisis and we need to do everything that we can to raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos.”
