Britain’s Youngest Ever Mesothelioma Patient Working On National Campaign

The youngest person in Britain to ever be diagnosed with mesothelioma is joining a newspapers national campaign to support those suffering from the disease.

Sophie Ellis was only 13 when she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a fatal form of cancer.

Now at the age of 17 she is working with the Daily Mirror to share her struggle with the illness as she begins her second course of chemotherapy. It is not known how she contracted the disease although the illness is often contributed to exposure to asbestos.

“Nobody has a clue where I got it from. We can’t think of a time when I would have come into direct contact with asbestos. It took a while for the doctors to diagnose because they just didn’t expect me to have it at such a young age. They said I was the first teenager in the UK to have developed it in the last 30 years,” said the 17-year old.

Exposure to asbestos can lead to a number of illnesses including asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma. Due to a long latency period, symptoms typically take 20 to 50 years to appear, a reason why Ellis’s illness is unusual. Currently, there is no cure for mesothelioma but a number of treatments are tried in an effort to combat the disease.

Ellis’s hope is that her support will raise awareness and someday a cure will be found. “The cancer has made me braver in a way. It was pretty tough being diagnosed at such a young age and the surgery was really painful. I hope more can be done to understand this disease – that’s why I’m backing the Mirror’s campaign.”