Dickie Van Ness' Story

In 1968, Dickie Van Ness volunteered for the Navy and was assigned to the forward engine room of a World War II-era destroyer whose aging turbines required constant maintenance. Upon discharge, he returned to his hometown of Richmond, Va., and joined the plumbers and steam tters union. Like
the engine room, the factories he worked in contained asbestos, but he trusted that the protective gear and regular medical exams required by the union meant he would be safe.

“He was very t,” said his wife Judy, whom he married in 1987. “He hardly ever even had a cold.”

In June 2011, he had a physical exam that found no problems. But, in late August, Van Ness experienced shortness of breath. When he went back to the doctor, his physician said he was like a six-cylinder car running on three cylinders.

After doctors took biopsy, Judy met with his thoracic surgeon to discuss the diagnosis privately.

“He showed me the X-rays and said it was pleural mesothelioma,” a rare cancer caused by inhaling asbestos bers, “and [said] there was no cure,” Judy recalled. “The cancer was so thick around Dickie’s lung he’d probably had it for 40 years.” That suggested

Van Ness had rst been exposed to asbestos while in the Navy, but given his later work, he was likely continually exposed as a civilian.

Van Ness started chemotherapy in October 2011; the following spring, it brie y seemed as if he was responding to treatment, but then he began weakening. Dickie Van Ness died at home on Aug. 30, 2012. He was 62 years old.

The following March, Judy went to a conference in Washington, D.C., about the so- called FACT Act, a proposed bill that would make it harder for asbestos victims and their families to receive compensation from the companies that made and used asbestos.

“At the conference, I said that I had always supported the Republican Party, but this was not a Republican or a Democratic issue, but a victims’ rights issue,” she said. “This was personal to me, and I wanted to explain it for people who didn’t understand.”

The Van Ness family had savings, good medical coverage and a long-term care insurance policy, and with the help of Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., they received compensation from the Veterans Administration promptly.

“We were taken care of, but other people may not be so lucky,” Judy said. “When someone is diagnosed with mesothelioma, realistically they’re not going to live very long. How dare they try to pass a bill to make it harder for veterans to get the help they’re entitled to? This is not a partisan issue—it’s about doing the right thing.”