Jessica Blackford-Cleeton’s Mesothelioma Journey | Mesothelioma Hope

What makes me laugh the most is my husband, but also my kids. My kids make me laugh a lot. I don’t know what it’s like to be a mom without cancer in my life—it’s just our normal.

My name is Jessica Blackford Catton. I have peritoneal mesothelioma and was diagnosed in 2015 at the age of 32, which is pretty young for the disease.

My name is Brandon Catton, and my connection to mesothelioma is being a caregiver for my wife. I did whatever I could to get us through the next day.

I found out about my meso diagnosis after quite a bit of testing. I was having stomach pains for about a year—some pretty severe pain—but it was kind of written off as menstrual or “woman’s issues.” In fact, I’d say every woman I’ve talked to who has had peritoneal mesothelioma was misdiagnosed, usually with ovarian or menstrual pain, or it was brushed off as a stomach bug. It was frustrating. It took about a year before I finally got the scans I needed. When we did, it was extensive—it was all over my abdominal cavity, with hundreds or even thousands of tumors. It was a complete shock. And even then, doctors didn’t know what it was, because they had never seen anything like it.

After my mesothelioma diagnosis, everything changed. I never went back to work because of the extensive treatments. Life was completely flipped upside down. But it’s something I live with and battle every day. I’m just really lucky to even be here.

You cannot have mesothelioma without asbestos exposure. Asbestos is deadly. It’s a horrible substance. Companies knowingly exposed workers, consumers, and bystanders, despite knowing the dangers. That made me feel very angry—there was supporting evidence and data at the time. Protective equipment should have been used. There should have been processes in place to wash after work and to dispose of contaminated clothing. These are very simple measures that could have prevented catastrophic, life-changing conditions down the road.

I was 32 when I was diagnosed. Most research is focused on older people, so there was really nothing about someone like me—nothing about my future, what it would look like if I wanted to have children, or even if I had that option. We were newly married. We wanted to have kids. At that point, we were just trying to preserve life.

Mesothelioma doesn’t have a cure, and I know that—we know that. But we desperately wanted information.

I contacted Simmons Hanly Conroy about a month after I was diagnosed. They were recommended to us as a good firm for asbestos cases. It’s expensive being sick. Any help you can get, especially with this disease, really matters. There are very few experts, and you’re going to be traveling, using a lot of your financial resources. Healthcare is expensive. The support we received definitely helped curb those expenses.

Simmons Hanly Conroy was just easy to work with. They made everything simple. They worked around me and everything I was going through with treatment. It was an easy process. They were also quick. I never had to call them to ask what was going on—I always knew what step we were on, where we were going, and what things were looking like.

Hiring Simmons Hanly Conroy was a good decision. There was a high level of personal care. Everyone we spoke to at the firm really invested in our story.

If someone asked me whether it’s worth going through litigation for mesothelioma, I’d tell them: it is worth it. It’s not an easy decision—I understand that. I know what headspace they’re in at that time. They don’t want another thing on their plate. But in the long run, it makes sense. This is a way for them to get justice.