Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Frank Bender is renowned for his ability to sculpt likenesses of murder victims as well as criminals from skeletal remains or decades-old photographs. In 1977, his rendering of a gunshot victim whose remains were found near the Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania helped identify her as missing person Anna Duval from Phoenix, Arizona. Twelve years later, he used aged photographs as well as the age progression within his imagination to sculpt fugitive John List of Recent Jersey for an episode of America’s Most Wanted that discussed how the man had killed his wife, mother as well as three kids 18 years earlier. List was apprehended by the FBI two weeks after the program aired, as well as he looked exactly as Bender had thought he would.

Bender was joyous to hear recently that a sculpture he did back in 2005 helped identify a 1954 homicide victim, but he has as well as been given some very without money news. Bender has been diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer he developed after working with asbestos during his U.S. Navy service in the 1950s as well as 1960s in the engine room of the destroyer escort USS Calcaterra. He is having a disability claim processed through the Department of Veterans Affairs. His wife Jan is fighting her own battle with lung cancer, as well as she’s beaten the odds so far by outliving the prognosis that said she would likely die in 2007. She has used leave from work as well as met with hospice workers.

For the filled story, go to Philadelphia Inquirer.