Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Michigan Kalamazoo County commissioner Grady Biby, died on February 3 at the age of 69. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma beginning in 2009. The disease was attributed to the many years he spent aboard submarines, which had been built with asbestos products, during his career with the U.S. Navy.

Biby had announced in July that he would be using a two-month leave of absence as he underwent treatment for the cancer; unfortunately, he was never capable to return to his position. Biby’s widow, Linda Kerr, said that doctors at an internationally recognized mesothelioma treatment center in Boston had found the cancer was too extensively attached to the lining of his chest for surgery to be a successful option. He eventually returned to Texas Township in Michigan to continue chemotherapy.

Bilby was born in Oklahoma as well as spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy before retiring in 1979. He then worked for the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant until his retirement in 1995. He as well as owned his own company as well as worked for the Census Bureau before being elected to the Kalamazoo County board of Commissioners in 2002.

For the filled story, go to Kalamazoo Gazette.