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Longest Living Mesothelioma Survivor Offers Hope to Observers of Mesothelioma Awareness Day

ByAlex Strauss

As mesothelioma patients, advocates and health professionals prepare for the 11th annual Mesothelioma Awareness Day on September 26th, the world’s longest-living documented survivor of mesothelioma is about to celebrate his 71st birthday. It is a milestone that few expected him to see.

Australian Paul Kraus is the author of “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient’s Guide” and an 18-year survivor of one of the most deadly types of cancer known to medicine.

Kraus, who was born in a Nazi labor camp in October of 1944, was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in 1997. Like so many others, he had been unknowingly exposed to asbestos, the primary cause of mesothelioma, while working at a factory during his vacation as an undergraduate student years before.

Because his mesothelioma had already spread to other parts of his body by the time he was diagnosed, Kraus was not expected to live more than six months and was told that conventional therapies could not help him.

With the support of his wife, Kraus defied the odds by making radical changes in his lifestyle and working closely with doctors who embraced complementary treatments. Kraus details his healing strategies in “Surviving Mesothelioma”, which has now become the best-selling mesothelioma book in the world.

In an interview on Australian television just four years after his diagnosis, Kraus shared advice that he was given to “Accept the diagnosis but forget the prognosis” and declared that the experience of having and fighting mesothelioma had enriched his life. Kraus will turn 71 on October 20th. To read more about his healing journey with mesothelioma, click here to order a copy of “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient’s Guide”.

In honor of National Mesothelioma Awareness Day in the US on Saturday, organizers are encouraging patients, families and those who have lost loved ones to wear blue and to seek out awareness events happening in communities throughout the country.

Source:

Paul Kraus website, www.PaulKraus.com

Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation website

 

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