A MIRFIELD-born man overcame prostate cancer only to die of lung cancer, an inquest heard.
Coroner Roger Whittaker held an inquest at Huddersfield yesterday into the death of Henry Woodward, 77.
He recorded a verdict of death due to industrial disease.
Mr Woodward died last Christmas Eve after developing pneumonia.
He had been a resident at Hartshead Manor Nursing Home, Hartshead.
Pathologist Patricia Gudgeon said Mr Woodward's illness and ultimate death was caused by mesathelioma, a cancer of the lung lining.
She said he had contracted the disease after exposure to asbestos dust.
In a statement made before his death, Mr Woodward said he had never worked with asbestos, but had worked in buildings in the 1950s which had asbestos lagging on pipes.
The coroner said Mr Woodward stood a substantial risk of being exposed to asbestos without realising it.
Dr Gudgeon agreed this contact would have been enough to cause mesathelioma.
Mr Woodward was an engineer for ICI in the 1950s,
working with dyes known to cause bladder cancer.
But it was not until 2002 that he developed prostate cancer. He had chemotherapy and overcame the disease.
In 2003, he was seen at Dewsbury District Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary about lung problems.
Mesathelioma was diagnosed last November.
A post-mortem showed the mesathelioma tumour was separate from a prostate cancer tumor which had started to return.
The prostate cancer did not contribute to his death.
