Lisa Hoggard was helping her father tinker in the family garage when the rapidly rotating blade of the table saw spewed out gray-blue dust.
The little 5-year-old “apprentice” stood proudly next to his father as he measured and cut countless planks while being sprayed with fine powder.
In 1965, the newest building material, asbestos, was all the rage.
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Durable, easy to use, fireproof and waterproof, it was an essential construction item.
Years later, it became widely known that commonly used substances were deadly.
But as young Lisa stood covered head to toe in asbestos dust, her family had no idea that helping her father might one day threaten her life.
It wasn't until nearly 60 years later that Lisa faced her doctor and was told the devastating news.
Lisa had it mesotheliomaa deadly cancer caused by asbestos exposure.
“I saw an ad on TV,” Lisa told 7Life about her diagnosis.
“I knew there was no cure. It would never get better, it would just die.”
It's been two years since Lisa was diagnosed, and it looks like she's one of the lucky ones.
abdominal pain
Sometime in 2020, Lisa started experiencing moderate abdominal pain.
Her doctor assured her it was nothing to worry about.
But when the 62-year-old moved from the hustle and bustle of Sydney to the quiet NSW Southern Highlands, her new doctor told her otherwise.
“I came in on Friday and explained that I had pain in my abdomen,” Lisa says.
“She (the doctor) told me on Monday if there was still any left.”
When the abdominal pain did not go away, Lisa went back to the doctor.
After a series of tests and tests, doctors discovered she had a tumor and scheduled her for surgery within two weeks.
“It was great because two weeks is not a lot of time to think,” she says.
“But at the same time, I thought I had cancer and it wasn't going to be good.”
mesothelioma
During exploratory surgery, surgeons were shocked by what they discovered.
The tumor on Lisa's ovary was benign.
However, she had a number of abnormalities in her abdomen, which doctors described as resembling sesame seeds.
Multiple biopsies confirmed that Lisa had the following symptoms: Papillary peritoneal mesothelioma — A rare form of mesothelioma.
“I knew right away what it was,” she says.
“I grew up watching Bernie Bunton ads.”
In the early 2000s, Australian builder Bernard 'Bernie' Bunton became the face of asbestos-related disease, fighting for compensation for cancer patients caused by asbestos products.
Lisa watched Bernie publicly lose his battle with peritoneal mesothelioma before his death in 2007.
“I just put the dots together and knew there was no cure,” she admits of being devastated by her initial diagnosis.
“It was so scary that I was blinded.”
Medical staff began trying to figure out how Lisa contracted “asbestos cancer,” and eventually Lisa's family put the puzzle together.
At ages 5 and 10, she helped her father build a garage and small addition using asbestos materials.
Her parents recalled that the girl was covered from head to toe in carcinogenic blue dust.
speed bump
As part of Lisa's preparation for treatment, doctors ordered a full scan to enable precise mapping of her entire body.
These tests revealed further damage. She also had breast cancer.
“I remember going to see the doctor,” she says. “And she goes, 'Rhys, it's no big deal.'”
Compared to the fight against mesothelioma that lay ahead, Lisa saw breast cancer and its treatments – surgery and radiation therapy – as a mere “hiccup.”
After two months, she was completely freed from the fear of breasts and began preparing for a bigger battle.
“I was focused on major surgery. This (breast cancer) was something I had to avoid,” she says.
mesothelioma treatment
Lisa was scheduled to undergo a grand 12-hour operation, in which she would be cut open from her breastbone to her pubic bone and undergo a “hot chemotherapy wash.”
Treatment required surgeons to inject “powerful chemotherapy” into Lisa's body and “bath it all over her body.”
“It was more like medieval torture than surgery,” she says.
“I was like a washing machine.”
Lisa confessed that she didn't know if she would “make it”.
The grueling surgery was deemed a success and she was discharged from the hospital 17 days later. She spent six months recovering.
Remarkably, her cancer has not returned.
It's been more than a year since her surgery, and each test continues to reveal good news.
She is now retired and spends her days gardening, biking, and teaching.
Looking back, Lisa calls the benign tumor in her abdomen a “happy accident.”
She had no symptoms of papillary peritoneal mesothelioma and believes finding the tumor saved her life.
“If it wasn't for the tumor, they might not have found peritoneal mesothelioma or even my breast cancer,” she says.
Lisa is sharing her story in support of the Asbestos and Dust Disease Research Institute's new podcast series, Dust Disease Diary, which has just launched.
Podcast available here Or on any podcast streaming service.
