Sheffield cleaner with cancer seeks answers over exposure to deadly asbestos
She worked her whole life as a cook and a cleaner in Sheffield
A grandmother who worked her entire life as a cook and cleaner in Sheffield has been diagnosed with a fatal industrial disease – despite never knowingly working with deadly asbestos.
Valerie Brown was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February 2025, and was warned she may have 12 to 18 months to live.
The grandmother-of-three continues to defy expectations and has not yet experienced the worst symptoms of the aggressive lung cancer.
However, her mesothelioma diagnosis came as a “total shock” to 63-year-old Valerie, who spent her career working in roles including in the kitchen of the former Middlewood Hospital in Sheffield, as well as being a cleaner at Loxley College, formerly known as Myers Grove Lower School, where she was also a pupil.
“I have never smoked, so it was a shock when I was told I had lung cancer,” said Valerie.
“But when they said I had two pints of fluid on my lungs and it was mesothelioma, it was a total shock. I have never worked anywhere where I could think there would have been asbestos.
“I really have no idea how this could have happened.”
Valerie, who also has three adult children with husband Ian, is now appealing for information to help her understand where she may have been exposed to the asbestos, with the hospital and school being of particular interest.
As she fights to retain her independence, Valerie has undergone two courses of debilitating immunotherapy, and six rounds of chemotherapy. Her diagnosis has also caused her type two diabetes to develop into type one.
“I have always just got on with things in my life,” said Valerie. “When challenges come, me and my husband just get on with it.
“That’s what I’m doing now, just trying to get on with my life as best I can. I still pick the grandchildren up from school round the corner, I like to go for a walk – but of course it’s a concern what the future may hold.”
Although Valerie says she has thought back over her working life – including working at the psychiatric unit Middlewood Hospital in the late 1970s, and her former secondary school, which was by then known as Loxley College, in the early 2000s – she still cannot think of where she may have come into contact with asbestos.
Valerie is being supported by law firm Slater and Gordon, with specialist industrial disease solicitor Christopher Briggs acting on her behalf.
Mr Briggs said: “Valerie’s work as a cook and cleaner are not ordinarily roles you would expect to be associated with mesothelioma.
“But unfortunately we are seeing a significant rise in the number of people being unknowingly exposed to asbestos through working in poorly maintained buildings, where they have been put at great risk while going about their daily jobs.
“Valerie is valiantly getting on with her life as best she can, but of course the questions of ‘when, why and how’ are very important to her in understanding how she has contracted this cruel disease. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated by Valerie and her family, and we will do everything we can to support her in finding answers.”
Anyone who may have information to support Valerie can contact Christopher Briggs on [email protected] or 0330 995 5368.