Mesothelioma Survivor: Resources and Support Were Critical

Carla Fasolo says her mesothelioma journey started with persistent back pain on her right side. The pain became unbearable while lying down, so she went to her doctor in hopes of getting some answers. 

“The pain became horrible, and I ended up going to the doctor’s office and they were going to do an electrocardiogram. They asked me to lie down and I couldn’t lie down. The pain was unbearable,” Carla explains to The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com.

She then went to the hospital where she was given a CT scan and a biopsy was performed. Doctors found a large tumor on the right side of her chest. Carla was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in 2021.

“I was scared. I didn’t know how it was going to affect my life and my family. I didn’t know how I was going to get through it. It was very difficult,” Carla shared. 

Following Carla’s mesothelioma diagnosis, her primary care doctor sent her to an oncologist. But she didn’t feel comfortable with him. So she turned to the internet to do her own research. 

“I looked up multiple areas to go for cancer treatment. I found The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com and talked to Patient Advocate Karen Selby. She was very encouraging and she helped me a lot. I was connected with and saw Dr. Marcelo DaSilva, who is the chief of thoracic surgery and medical director at AdventHealth. He referred me to an oncologist,” Carla explained.

Working With a Patient Advocate

Carla’s positive experience with The Mesothelioma Center is something she says she wants others to know about. She explains connecting with a registered nurse and Patient Advocate like Karen Selby helped her not only find the best mesothelioma treatment options for her, but offered the support she needed. 

“Karen was very personable,” Carla says. “She called me all the time to check on me to see how I was doing, asking who I was seeing, what kind of treatments I was getting.” 

Carla recounts how many questions she had as she was starting on her mesothelioma journey. She also says the more she learned, the more she discovered questions she didn’t know she had.

“She sent me information and I never dreamed that there was that much information – right down to what you should eat,” Carla recalls. “It was just amazing. Karen was so positive about me doing well and getting better. She is an awesome lady. Anything you need help with, you can call her and she’s always there for you. Because I’ve called her too and she’s there for you.” 

Once she was connected to Dr. DaSilva who then recommended an oncologist, Carla’s treatment included rounds of both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Carla says the treatments caused fatigue, a common side effect of treatments like chemo.

“The first few times were kind of hard because I would be sleeping a lot. It does have its effect on you – the medications they give you and everything,” she shares. “But it had a positive outcome. They had told me that my tumor was the size of a softball when it started, fracturing my ribs and then damaging them. Then after my third therapy, my tumor had shrunk quite a bit and to me that was awesome. It continued to shrink during my therapy.” 

Surgery to remove the tumor was also an option for her. However, as Carla explains, “I was scheduled to have surgery, but it got postponed twice so I decided that was a sign not to have the surgery done.”

Now several years after her treatments Carla says she feels great. “I feel 100% better. I don’t have the pain that I had. The energy levels are still on the low side, but I’m getting better,” Carla says.

Recalling Her Exposure to Asbestos

Carla says was exposed to asbestos as a child. During visits at her father’s work in the Oneida County Courthouse in Utica, New York, she recalls playing with pieces of asbestos she found in the boiler room of the building.

“I remember being in the basement with him and finding these gray fibrous materials on the floor when I was young and I picked them up,” she recalls. “I tried to peel it and tried to chomp on it with my teeth.” 

Secondary exposure is an additional way Carla encountered asbestos. When she was younger she would help her mother with the laundry. Her father’s clothes had debris on them from work. She says she would shake the asbestos dust off of them.