Last home of Steve McQueen--Marine Veteran who died of mesothelioma--for sale

In a bit of news not directly connected to veterans with mesothelioma, the last home of actor and USMC veteran Steve McQueen, who died of mesothelioma, is now for sale. Fox News' entertainment blog reports that the Santa Paula ranch McQueen moved into in 1979 is on the market. The 15.33 acre ranch's features reflect McQueen's interest in all forms of transportation. A site selling McQueens' ranch, airplane hangar and property says:

McQueen, who became one of the world's highest-paid actors in the 1960s, honed an image of toughness in such noted films as "Bullitt," "The Great Escape," and "The Cincinnati Kid." 

But he started turning down most roles in the 1970s, focusing instead on auto and motorcycle racing and traveling the back roads of the West. He purchased two vintage Stearman biplanes and persuaded a Santa Paula local to become his flight instructor.

McQueen's interests in planes, motorcycles and automobiles provided opportunities for asbestos exposure, but malignant mesothelioma takes years to develop, and McQueen was not able to spend much time racing and flying until the 1970's. It was his exposure to asbestos in the 1950's, while working on pipes as punishment during his time in the Marines. In an interview with The Mirror, a British newspaper, McQueen's widow Barbara talks about her late husband's asbestos exposure:

Medics at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles - "wanting to look under the hood", as Steve put it - found tumors in his right lung. They mentioned mesothelioma and said it was incurable and not treatable. Steve was told he had only months to live.  

He told the doctors he wore asbestos-lined racing suits to ride motorbikes. He remembered joining the Marines at 16, getting drunk and being made to clean asbestos-lined pipes as punishment. He also recalled blowing up a can of beans and being made to strip asbestos lagging from yet more pipes.

"He didn't talk about it much," said Barbara in a recent interview with campaigning Californian lawyer Roger Worthington. "But I have a tape recording in which he was asked just before he died what caused his mesothelioma. 

He said: 'Asbestos'."

Barbara, who lived with the famous actor, motorcyclist and veteran in the Santa Paula ranch, was 27 when her husband died. She gave the interview to show solidarity with the men and women who were exposed to asbestos, and their grieving families:

"Disgusting" is how Barbara describes the firms who knew decades ago that asbestos could cause cancer, yet continued to produce it in vast quantities.

Were it not for Steve McQueen's exposure to asbestos as a young man in the Marine Corps, he might still be alive, flying his plane, driving his cars, or simply enjoying retirement on his Santa Paula ranch. But like many veterans, his asbestos exposure led to mesothelioma, and his life was cut short.