'I was given 15 months to live after using my dad's coat gave me cancer'

'I was given 15 months to live after using my dad's coat gave me cancer'Heather Von St James, 57, used to wear her father's work jacket on cold evenings as a child — but it was covered in asbestos, causing a shock illness decades laterCommentsNewsBenedict Tetzlaff-Deas News Reporter and Sarah Ingram09:38, 17 Apr 2026View 5 ImagesHeather Von St James, 57, was diagnosed with an asbestos-related illness from an item in her childhood(Image: Cover Images)A 57-year-old woman has revealed how she was given a devastating diagnosis decades after wearing her father's asbestos-covered coat as a child.‌Heather Von St James said that on cold evenings in her childhood, she would grab her father's jacket from where it was hanging by the door and head outside to feed her pet rabbits.‌But she was unaware the dark blue satin coat from the 1980s was covered with dust from long days on building sites — and was scented with her dad Roland's aftershave.‌Heather said she "just loved wearing it" — but she could never have imagined how dangerous that jacket, covered in grey white dust from construction work, would prove to be.View 5 ImagesShe had one of her lungs removed as part of the treatment(Image: Cover Images)READ MORE: 'I'm going blind at 36 and can't see my daughter'READ MORE: Mum of five loses six stone without jabs - or giving up favourite foodShe now knows it was covered with asbestos. Heather, from Minnesota, US, first fell ill at the age of 36, when she was pregnant for the first time. Working as a hairdresser and part-owner of a salon business, she originally assumed she was experiencing the usual postpartum pregnancy symptoms. After giving birth by Caesarean section she returned quickly to work, standing behind the salon chair while caring for a newborn at home. But she felt "fatigued all the time" and began suffering from fevers, which she said felt like "a truck parked on my chest".‌She add...