Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that forms near the lungs or ribs. Well, if it's so rare, why do so many lawyers advertise that they help mesothelioma victims? That's like saying automobile accidents are rare but you can find an auto insurance agency on every street corner anyway. There is total disconnect between the advertising for mesothelioma legal options and the claim that this is a rare form of cancer.

According to one source, 2500 new cases of mesothelioma are reported each year. Okay, that makes it rare. But then, why do so many law firms advertise for mesothelioma patients? I think the reason is that the same source says 70-80% of mesothelioma sufferers have worked with asbestos.

You may not be suffering from mesothelioma, but if like me you have grown up in the United States, how could you not have heard about the huge expenses associated with asbestos? We used to use asbestos in everything because it is fire-resistant. We just didn't realize it is also poisonous. It's like the ancient Romans using lead in all their dining ware and drinking utensils and plumbing. They sealed everything with lead, and in doing so they poisoned themselves.

It takes a long time for mesothelioma to appear. According to one source, mesothelioma may not reveal itself 35-40 years. That is long time to wait. That same source also suggests that as many as 300,000 new cases of mesothelioma may be diagnosed by the year 2030. Suddenly, all the law firm interest in mesothelioma starts to make sense. A few cases each year can not only pay off well (attorneys often take 25-40% of your settlement in contingency fees), they help build a law firm's reputation for resolving such cases.

Your mesothelium is a two-layer membraneous sack that surrounds and protects your internal organs. It secrets fluid so that your organs can move freely inside you. According to Surviving Mesothelioma, when the cells become cancerous, they begind to divide and multiply rapidly and begin invading nearby organs and other parts of the body. In short, they forget what they are genetically programmed to do and just start consuming resources and replicating as fast as possible.

The sooner you identify mesothelioma, the sooner you can begin treatment for it. And the sooner you can start looking for an attorney, if you want to. The symptoms of mesothelioma include: coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chest or abdominal pains, loss of appetite (and weight loss), and fluid accumulation in your chest or abdomen. You may not recognize these symptoms right away, especially if you have other conditions that may produce one or more of those symptons.

You may or may not know if you have worked in or near asbestos. If you are sure you once worked in an asbestos environment but have not yet developed cancer, you can (and, in my opinion, should) take at least one precautionary step. Get a cancer policy. You cannot get these kinds of policies once you have been diagnosed (in some cases, you may be able to take out a cancer policy if you have been cancer free for ten years or longer).

Many companies offer supplemental health insurance programs. If you have heard of AFLAC, Colonial Supplemental Insurance, TransAmerica, or AllState's Supplemental Hospitalization plan, you have heard of supplemental insurance policies. You can often keep these policies if you leave your job because you pay for them directly.

For more information about mesothelioma, check out The National Cancer Institute's Mesothelioma section.