Heather Von St. James

Community—a sense of community and renewed hope. That is what the overwhelming feeling was at the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation's (MARF) annual symposium on malignant mesothelioma. The symposium took place from Wednesday July 11th to Friday July 13th in Washington DC—no where else can you have, all in one room, world-renowned doctors, other medical staff, lawyers, patients, their loved ones and caregivers, as well as those who have lost members of their family to the disease. Everyone came together for a single cause, to help find a cure for mesothelioma. What a very powerful testament to what the MARF is about.

It was upon attending the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation’s annual Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma back in June, that I first learned of Mesothelioma Awareness Day and the foundation’s plans to descend on New York City in September. As a survivor of the disease myself, the idea intrigued me but I didn’t really think it was going to be realistic for me to go.