Over the last 30 years, this has included a number of celebrities and other well-known people:
Paul Gleason
Paul Gleason worked for more than 40 years in Hollywood as a television actor and in films such as The Breakfast Club, Van Wilder and Trading Places before dying from pleural mesothelioma at the age of 67. Before he became an actor, Gleason played in minor league baseball. It is unknown how he was exposed to the asbestos that caused him to develop mesothelioma, and after a long and difficult fight against the disease, he passed away, leaving behind his wife and two daughters.
Stephen J. Gould
The story of Stephen J. Gould’s experience with mesothelioma is a remarkable one. At age 40, while working as a prominent evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, Gould was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. After some research into the disease, he learned that the median life expectancy after diagnosis was 8 months. As a scientist, Gould was familiar with statistics’ limitation as a predictor, and he developed a belief that he would live significantly longer than the eight months. He wrote a thoughtful essay on this topic titled, “The Median Isn’t the Message.” hyperlink to PDF His belief that he would survive longer and an accompanying positive attitude served him well. He went on to work at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and wrote a number of influential books as well as hundreds of essays on evolution and science that bridged the gap between science and the general public.
Steve McQueen
Popular for the iconic “rebel” persona and the anti-hero characters he played in movies such as The Magnificent Seven and Wanted: Dead or Alive, Steve McQueen is also widely known for his struggle and death from pleural mesothelioma. It is likely that McQueen was exposed to asbestos during his time as a Marine, and while wearing flame retardant suits while racing cars and motorcycles--his passion. When McQueen was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1979, he was told that there was no treatment or cure, so he went to Mexico for alternative treatments. These treatments did not help him, and soon after a surgery in 1980 to remove a large tumor, he died from a heart attack.
Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon’s singing and songwriting talents earned him a cult-like following. He wrote many popular tunes, including “Werewolves in London” and “Excitable Boy” and collaborated with big names such as Tom Petty and Dwight Yoakum on his final album, “The Wind,” which was released less than two weeks before his death on September 7, 2003. Zevon avoided visiting a physician for two decades until illness and shortness of breath forced him to see a doctor in August, 2002, when he was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. He didn’t know when he had been exposed to asbestos. Many believed his heavy smoking was the cause of his lung cancer, but there has been no link shown between smoking and mesothelioma.
Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.
Admiral Zumwalt served the United States as Chief of Naval Operations for nearly 30 years. During his administration, he fought for a number of issues, including incorporating a more egalitarian command and protecting Navy men and women from dangerous environmental substances. Zumwalt’s own son died from cancer at the age of 42. Zumwalt believed his son’s cancer was due to exposure to Agent Orange during his service in Vietnam—a substance the Admiral had given the command to use. During his work to protect service men and women, he said before Congress, “…Every man and woman who puts on a Navy uniform faces possible injury or death in the national interest. Risk is part of their jobs, but it is the responsibility of the U.S. senators to ensure that the risk not be increased unnecessarily…”
Admiral Zumwalt was exposed to asbestos numerous times during his career, and was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma at age 78 after he experienced unusual shortness of breath after a 5K run. He died less than 6 months later. Many familiar with Zumwalt’s efforts to protect service men and women from environmental exposure to hazardous substances are angered by the irony of his development of mesothelioma and continue to work for improvements and accountability in the military.