To the Senate Judiciary Committee: "Remember that I'm leaving behind a wife I love and a little girl - they're the ones you'll be hurting - please think about them when you vote tomorrow."

The following is a statement read by Christopher Stoeckler on July 9, 2003 delivered to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Protest bill S. 1125, the "Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act".

My name is Chris Stoeckler, I'm 41 years old and I have malignant mesothelioma. My cancer is wrapped around both of my lungs, my heart and my belly.

My wife Wendy and our daughter Taylor live in Fort Atkinson, a small town in Wisconsin not too far from Madison. We have a little place on top of a hill surrounded by corn fields. We've been married 18 years and our daughter is 10 years old. We love where we live.

I always had excellent health, never really sick a day in my life, until the winter of 1999. I began to feel pain and my doctors found fluid in my belly and I went through a number of tests, but my doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. Finally, on New Year's Eve, 2001, my doctors told me and Wendy I had meso. They said it was terminal and I might live less than a year .

That was over a year and a half ago. I'm alive today, thanks to Wendy, who spends every spare minute trying to find ways to keep me alive, and some good doctors. I think my being in good shape before I got sick has also helped me live this long. Before I got sick, I raced motocross and took home some trophies. I never broke an arm or a leg, just a few bumps and bruises.

I'm also what you call a stubborn square-headed German. As long as I am alive, I will do everything in my power to provide for Wendy and our daughter Taylor. As hard as it is for me to go through the treatments that are keeping me alive, it's even harder worrying about what will happen to my family when I'm gone. And I know Wendy is worried too. Even though Wendy and I had put a little aside, I have to think of them being without me for their entire lives.

I kept working at my job as a United Airlines mechanic longer than my doctors or anyone else thought possible. I quit work almost a month ago. I just couldn't handle the radiation therapy and work. I don't know if I'll be able to work again, but I'll try.

I am trying to hold on until October 13. That's when my case is set for trial. I was exposed to asbestos for years working as an automobile and truck mechanic - working with asbestos brakes made by such companies as Ford Motor Company and Bendix. We were counting on having the chance to tell our story in court so the companies that did this to me would have to step up and help provide for my family's future when I'm not here.

The way I understand it, even if we go to court and can prove what happened to me and win compensation, it will all be taken away if Senator Hatch's proposed Trust Fund becomes law. I don't know much about the law -but that doesn't seem right to me. Especially if what I hear is true that this Trust Fund will have so many cases right up front that victims like me won't get the help they need for their families for as long as nine years. That's wrong and I just hope the Senators who have to decide this tomorrow will remember that I'm leaving behind a wife I love and a little girl - they're the ones you'll be hurting - please think about them when you vote tomorrow.

{ to read Christopher Stoeckler's medical profile, please click here }

*** POSTED ON JULY 16, 2003 ***