Tributes paid to mesothelioma sufferer who died from disease

Mr Goodwin died as a result of his illness last month, and Matt Fallaize said that he knew him as a man of great courage, resilience and determination.

‘I admired his commitment to help others as his own health gradually declined,’ he said.

‘I never detected a hint of resentment in him, though he had this appalling disease through no fault of his own.

‘He just wanted to use his final years to help others who are similarly affected now or will be in the future.’

He was honoured to work with Mr Goodwin to help set up the scheme and pleased that he lived to see its introduction.

While Mr Fallaize hoped that his own political efforts to advance the scheme had reassured Mr Goodwin that he had support, he said that the scheme would never have come about without his energy, diligence and patience, along with a small number of other sufferers and their families who had helped to raise the profile of the illness with politicians and officials.

‘I will always think of the mesothelioma compensation scheme as a sort of memorial to Mr Goodwin and other sufferers like him,’ said Mr Fallaize.

‘Mr Goodwin was the sort of person who would always understate his contribution.

‘But his family and friends should be in no doubt that he made a big contribution to an important advancement in our island’s social policy legislation.’

An inquest into Mr Goodwin’s death returned a verdict of death by industrial disease.

He was 64 when he died at Les Bourgs Hospice, while it was based at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, on 2 June.

At the inquest, coroner’s officer Phil Falla said that Mr Goodwin was diagnosed with mesothelioma following a CT scan for an unrelated matter in May 2016.

He later told his GP that he was exposed to asbestos when he was between 17 and 20 years old, doing jobs including replacing worn brake pads, which at the time were believed to be made of asbestos, sweeping up pieces of asbestos cladding affixed to pillars in a trade store and later being involved in demolishing the building.

Despite chemotherapy and medication his condition deteriorated, but he nonetheless spearheaded the campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos as well as calling for a compensation scheme.

Mr Goodwin received a compensation payment himself late last year from the scheme that was set up by the States as a result of his and others’ efforts.

In returning his verdict, Judge Graeme McKerrell ruled that the cause of death was as set out by the States’ pathologist, malignant mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure.