Asbestos Cancer Killed Mum in Her 40s – Was Her School to Blame?
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"Asbestos killed my mum in her 40s – was her school to blame?"
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By Will Fyfe and Angharad Thomas, BBC Wales
'Mum died young from asbestos - now my family want justice'
When Caroline Bryan was enjoying high school with friends in the early 90s, she would never have imagined replaying those memories in her final weeks, while searching for answers about her terminal condition.
The mum was 46 when she died from mesothelioma, an incurable cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
As she came to terms with her difficult diagnosis, Caroline's belief was the only place she could have encountered asbestos was during her time at school decades earlier.
Her family blame the local authority that ran Caroline's school for her death and are taking legal action. Cardiff council said it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.
"She never had the sort of career that would have exposed her to asbestos," said Caroline's daughter Brooklyn. "We never lived in any houses that would have had asbestos in."
Caroline was mostly a stay at home mum and the family hadn't heard of mesothelioma before, but quickly learned it likely came from asbestos fibres she will have unknowingly breathed in many years before.
Brooklyn Bryan
Brooklyn described her mum as a "kind and caring person" who would go "above and beyond for anybody".
"Before she passed, she contacted a solicitor," added Brooklyn. "She wanted justice – not just for herself, but to stop anyone else going through the same thing."
The 26-year-old said her world "turned upside down" when she found out her mum had incurable cancer.
Brooklyn said after looking back through her mum's life, they began to believe she was exposed to asbestos at her old high school, the old Fitzalan site in Cardiff.
The family's legal team helped to uncover council documents which they say show asbestos was used "quite extensively" at the site during Caroline's time there in the 1990s.
"Mum mentioned that the building wasn't in good condition," said Brooklyn. "Things like ceiling tiles were broken. There was dust and debris when things were disturbed, though at the time she didn't know what it was."
Caroline had only gone to the doctors because she'd noticed a shortness of breath. In her mid 40s, she was far younger than most mesothelioma patients.
Doctors had initially told Caroline she could have a few years left – but she passed away just three months after her diagnosis, aged 46.
"I was 23," said Brooklyn. "Suddenly, I had to take over everything – running the house, paying bills, cooking, cleaning. She had always looked after me, so I wasn't used to doing those things."