On April 1 – 3, people from across the globe will gather for the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization’s (ADAO) 7th Annual International Asbestos Awareness Conference, Asbestos: Impact on Public Heath, Environment, and the Economy, at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center, Atlanta, Georgia. Among the guests will be physicians, scientists, occupational health and safety professionals, public health advocates, families and survivors of asbestos-related diseases.
“I was told to see a lawyer and to get my affairs ‘in order.’ There is nothing so devastating as to be told to put your affairs in order. While my doctors didn’t say, ‘You will die,’ the implication was clear. More than anything, I want to live”
One of those survivors is Julie Gundlach, age 39, of St. Louis, MO. She will be honored by ADAO with The Alan Reinstein Award for her courageous commitment to educate, advocate for, and support patients and families impacted by asbestos-related diseases. The award is named after the Alan Reinstein, the late husband of Linda Reinstein, CEO and co-founder of ADAO, who died of mesothelioma. Reinstein served as president and co-founder of ADAO, an independent global organization, dedicated to preventing asbestos-related diseases through education, advocacy, and community.
Gundlach was a young mother of 35 when doctors handed her a diagnosis of mesothelioma – a rare and often-fatal asbestos-related disease. The year was 2006. Her daughter was just three years old.
Gundlach had just come through surgery to remove a tumor the size of a small cantaloupe from her pelvic area, which included a complete hysterectomy – procedures performed following what was thought to be ovarian cancer. However, doctors told her she had something quite different – mesothelioma. They told her to get in touch with an oncologist.
“It was made clear that the treatment was to prolong my prognosis – not to cure me,” said Julie Gundlach. “I was told to see a lawyer and to get my affairs ‘in order.’ There is nothing so devastating as to be told to put your affairs in order. While my doctors didn’t say, ‘You will die,’ the implication was clear. More than anything, I want to live,” she said. “And even though some days it feels impossible to live, laugh and love as fully as I am able to, I will never give up hoping for a cure.”
One way she is transforming fear into courage is by getting the word out about the dangers of asbestos exposure and that it can affect anyone. At a recent Earth Day event in her hometown, she gathered 1,000 signatures from attendees to present to Washington politicians to demand that they force manufacturing companies to stop using asbestos in their products. Gundlach’s three wishes are to save her own life so that she can be there for her children, Madeline and Dan; for a cure to save everyone from the horrific disease of mesothelioma; and for a complete ban on asbestos.
Gundlach will share her message with those attending the 2011 International Asbestos Awareness Conference, April 1 – 3. The ADAO conference is made possible with the support and collaborative efforts of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan. To view Julie Gundlach’s complete story and for more information about the ADAO conference go to www.adao.us.
Source: Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO)
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute