Patient Testimonials

Hear what patients have to say about the care they have received at The Pacific Meso Center and the difference it has made in their lives.

avatarIt’s a beautiful day in San Clemente. The kind of day that might usually be spent fishing with the grandkids off his boat in Dana Point Harbor, but for retired Judge Jacob Jager, those boating days are on hold as he finishes his post-operative radiation treatments. While the Judge enjoys the view surrounded by his gracious family, wife Norma, daughter Tammy, and grandsons Ashton and Hunter, he continues to wage a determined battle against malignant pleural mesothelioma

Jacob Jager
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As a teen in Oxfordshire, England, 70 year-old Terry Latham excelled in sports. “I was tall and tough,” he recalls with a grin. “I played rugby. I was fast. I set all kinds of records. Looking back, sports saved me.” From 1948 to 1959, Terry lived and attended school at the Kingham Hill School Orphanage, a place that valued basic survival skills. He both avoided and ended many a scrape, thanks in part to his strength and cunning. He learned that bullys were simply cowards with brawn and once he overcame his fears they were just another bump in the road.

Terry Latham
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avatarWalter “Wally” Nielsen and his lovely wife, Arleen, sit surrounded by comfort and beauty – testaments to their hard work and creativity. A well-tended garden is a riot of spring color, but the leaden sky and cool drizzle portend another side of the Nielsens' seemingly idyllic life. You wouldn’t know it from his easy going manner and natural smile, but Wally is battling an insidious cancer. This diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma came as a shock to Wally, a tall, fit, active, 74 year-old lifetime nonsmoker.

Walter “Wally” Nielsen
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In 2006, Tony Chomo was involved in a motorcycle accident. But, his injuries seemed minor, and Tony went home. One month later, he found himself having a hard time breathing normally. Tony went to the emergency room at Northridge Hospital. An EKG ruled out a heart attack, but fluid was found surrounding his lung, and was drained. Tests on the fluid revealed abnormal mesothelial cancer cells, and Tony was diagnosed was malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Tony Chomo
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avatarDavid Vanderhyde was diagnosed with pleural malignant mesothelioma (epithelial type – epithelium are tissue membranes that line the internal organs), in October 2006, and was instructed by his oncologist to begin chemotherapy right away. A month later, he began the standard regimen of Alimta with Cisplatin, however, his oncologist included a non-standard targeted therapy drug as well called Avastin (Bevacizumab), which is not a chemotherapy drug but rather an anti-angiogenesis therapy.

David Vanderhyde
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avatarVietnam veteran Nick Perrone, 65, was just beginning an active retirement after many years as a salesman and working at Disneyland until September 21, 2011. “I was retired, having a good time then all of a sudden, while working out at the gym, I can’t breathe,” he explains. “What a shock. And scary,” he goes on.


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avatarLouisiana born and bred, Abe Cherry spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy as an aircraft mechanic before retiring as a Chief Petty Officer in 1981. His next career was in the forest industry in Louisiana where he performed maintenance in paper mills before he retired for the last time in 2006.

Abe Cherry
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avatarAt age 12, Martha Munoz’s father uprooted the family from a comfortable life in Mexico to bring them to the United States. Her adopted country welcomed her hard work as a social worker, wife and mother. In 1996, as her husband Arturo was set to retire after 30 years of building cars at the local Ford Motor factory, Martha was also offered a retirement package from the county. Thus began a life of travel to Hawaii, Europe, Mexico and Texas while helping her children complete college and start their adult lives.

Martha Munoz
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avatarWhen Naseem’s brother beckoned him to come to the United States in 1981 from Egypt, he jumped at the chance. Naseem, who had been a chemical engineer and had served in the army in his homeland, started his new life working in his brother’s gas station as a mechanic. “It was a new beginning for me, an opportunity,” he explains; one that eventually led him to owning a successful gas station in Ontario and several other businesses.

Naseem Farag
Full Story

If you would like a free copy, "Mesothelioma: A Patient's Road Map", please click on image cover below:

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Disclaimer

You’re on this website because you’re searching for information about pleural mesothelioma from a doctor and not from lawyers. We are an independent site not affiliated with any law firm, nor do we give advice on law firms. On this site, you can learn about the latest treatment and research from Dr. Robert B. Cameron, a board certified surgeon on the forefront of mesothelioma for over 25 years and Scientific Advisor of the Pacific Meso Center. He is the innovator of the lung-sparing surgical procedure that has become the standard of care.

While this website contains general information about mesothelioma, treatment and research, this information is not advice and should not be treated as such. You should always consult your own physician for medical advice. The Pacific Meso Center (PMC) is a division of the Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit medical research institute.