A FORMER labourer for a Newport ship-breaking company has thanked the city's residents for their help in securing access to treatment for cancer related to working with asbestos.

Glyndwr Lovesey, 69, was diagnosed with the asbestos related cancer Mesothelioma in August last year having undergone a biopsy to investigate why he was suffering from shortness of breath.

The former labourer for John Cashmore Limited issued a ‘heartfelt thanks’ to the people of Newport, after an appeal for witnesses helped him secure access to a care package that will fund his cancer treatment.

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The business was closed in October 1976.

As his condition deteriorated, he was forced to give up work as a saw operator at a timber merchants.

He went to instruct industrial disease lawyers at Simpson Millar to carry out an investigation into whether more could and should have been done to protect him from exposure to deadly asbestos dust.

Mr Lovesey left school at 15, and began working for the large scrap metal merchants John Cashmore Limited between approximately 1966 and 1971.

Staying with the company for around five years, he worked in the hangar, where he was responsible for breaking down and processing large pieces of metal; including old steam and heating pipes from ships.

It was during this time that he recalls coming into contact with asbestos as he stripped the lagging off the sections of pipes – often coming into contact with huge volumes of dust that got into his clothes and hair.

A witness appeal issued late last year resulted in a number of local people reaching out to provide information, and in April 2020 the insurers for John Cashmore admitted liability for Mr Lovesey’s illness.

His lawyers have now secured an undisclosed amount of financial compensation and a treatment package that will provide him and his family with some financial security given his diagnosis and inability to work, as well as access to immunotherapy treatment which will hopefully help to extend his life and is not normally available on the NHS.

Mr Lovesey said: “I cannot express how truly grateful I am for those who came forward and provided the vital information needed.

“A huge, heartfelt thanks from me and my wife.

“Since my diagnosis I have been forced to give up work, and my condition has deteriorated rapidly. It’s incredibly hard to think that all of this could have been prevented had I been provided with the necessary personal protective equipment while I was doing my job.

“I am determined to take every opportunity to extend my life and to spend more time with my family.”