Asbestos death creeps up on victims

Queenslanders who lost loved ones to asbestos poisoning shared their heartbreaking stories at the launch of a state awareness campaign.

Adam Sager’s story

Julie and Don Sager had no idea of the danger they were exposing their toddler Adam to when they sanded the walls of their house in the early 1980s.

Their boy ran around sweeping up the dust that was left behind, his parents unaware it contained deadly asbestos.

It was a common material used in thousands of buildings across Australia until the late 1980s.

In his early 20s, Adam felt a sharp pain in his chest and had to go to hospital to have fluid drained from his lungs.

He had malignant mesothelioma, a form of cancer common in people who were exposed to asbestos at work.