The deadly fibres that caused Alan Knight’s terminal illness can’t be detected by the naked eye - they’re microscopic.
But the asbestos he inhaled over the years is responsible for thousands of deaths across the UK each year. And it’s still present in buildings across the country.
By the time Alan discovered he was ill with mesothelioma - a cancer caused by inhaling asbestos - it was already too late. So his family is now determined to make sure that others are aware of the dangers of the deadly substance.
Stepson Adam Cook says: “I would give anything for him to be back in our lives, to go on another holiday with him or have him for Sunday dinner, but that chance has been taken away from us by a terrible illness that was not his fault.”
The family believe that stage and production manager Alan was exposed to asbestos while working at the Whitworth Art Gallery and at the former Hawker Siddeley Aviation factory, in Oldham.
Neither company has accepted liability.
The 58-year-old passed away just months after being diagnosed with mesothelioma - an aggressive and incurable cancer caused by contact with the deadly dust.
Alan, from Middleton, started work straight from school as an apprentice technician at Hawker Siddeley Aviation, now BAE, at its then factory in Chadderton.
Soon after this Alan moved into theatre work, and between 1997 and 2008 Alan worked as house manager at Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery, where he believed he was exposed to asbestos.
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Neither BAE, nor the The University of Manchester - which runs the Whitworth - has admitted liability.
Alan instructed solicitors shortly after his diagnosis and when he died in September 2017, his family took on his case.
The case was recently settled for an undisclosed sum with Whitworth Art Gallery and BAE splitting the damages 75/25 per cent.
Alan’s stepson Adam, 36, lived for most of his childhood with Alan and considered him a second dad.
“Alan and my mother, Susan, started a relationship when I was four or five and he was a constant father figure all the way through growing up,” he said.
“Although they split up when I was 17 we always kept in touch. I suppose I was the closest he ever had to a son and he was like a second dad.
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“He had a heart of gold and absolutely loved my partner Kelly and our two kids. We went on holiday with him three times and were talking about going on another.”
Adam says it was difficult to watch Alan as he became more and more ill.
He said: “I think he was in a lot more pain than he let on but he put on a brave face. He was very independent and didn’t want to be a burden but you could see what it was doing to him.
“I found that really difficult to watch him fade away.
“Because it was such a shock I think I am still grieving. I really miss him and think about him every day.”
Jordan Bell, an accredited asbestos claims specialist from Slater and Gordon, represented the family.
He said: “Asbestos is still present in many buildings throughout the UK. For Alan and his family it is sadly too late but they hope that by speaking out they will help raise awareness of this devastating illness which can be so easily contracted if people do not take the right precautions.”
BAE declined to comment, while The University of Manchester said it could not comment on individual cases.
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