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Riding in Shorts Movement Raises Awareness of Asbestos-Related Diseases

Riding in Shorts Movement Raises Awareness of Asbestos-Related Diseases

When people remember Leah Smith, it is as an outgoing, vivacious woman with a deep love of horses.

A wife and mother to two young men in their twenties, Leah was very involved in her local community of Sarina in North Queensland.

This year she would have turned 50, but an illness took her away from her family just months before her milestone birthday.

“This illness has taken a lot of things away from her, like seeing her grandchildren and seeing her second son get married,” said her widowed husband, Phil Smith.

A bride and groom in front of a gray background, the bride is holding a bouquet

Leah and Phil Smith on their wedding day. (Provided)

The disease, called mesothelioma, is a cancer that affects the tissues lining the lungs, chest walls and abdomen.

It is usually caused by exposure to asbestos and can take decades to manifest.

It is believed Leah was exposed around the age of three, when her parents built a house in Gympie and worked with asbestos-containing materials.

She regularly walked around the construction site and helped her parents with cleanups, which would lead to her diagnosis more than four decades later.

Mr Smith said he was devastated that their sons would have to celebrate Christmas this year without their mother.

“This will be our first… without Leah, so just having a quiet little Christmas together,” he said.

A family standing in a yard dressed in casual clothes

Leah Smith’s family, including her two sons Baily and Lachlan, will experience their first Christmas without her this year. (Provided)

Finding a path to prevention

Despite their grief, the Smith family wanted to turn their experience into something that could help other people.

Phil Smith took inspiration from an old quirk of Leah’s to create a new event that would raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos.

“Leah was an avid horse person and loved riding in her casual clothes when she wasn’t competing,” he said.

And so a movement called Ride in Shorts for Leah was born.

The principle is simple.

The family is asking the public to spend time riding horses in Leah’s favorite riding outfit: shorts and a t-shirt or tank top.

A man sits on a dark brown horse, his hand on the reins, a tree and sugar cane fields are visible in the background

Phil Smith rode his late wife’s horse, Radical Rodney, on her 50th birthday to raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos. (ABC News: Ashleigh Bagshaw)

The week-long event aimed to raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos and fund an organization dedicated to educating the public about it.

One local group that got involved was the Sarina Equestrian and Vaulting Club.

Head coach Jody Burrows said she wanted to honor Leah’s life.

“Leah has done so much for so many people in our area, especially our equestrian community,” she said.

“And also raise awareness about asbestos-related diseases, which Leah would have really loved.

A woman leans over a fence in a riding arena, a horse is visible in the background

Jody Burrows says Leah will be remembered for her generous spirit. (ABC News: Ashleigh Bagshaw)

“I know for a fact that if there was something like this event, Leah would be there with her shorts on supporting us all.”

Nicole Bourne is another club member who came to ride in shorts for Leah, and she remembers Ms Smith for her generosity.

“Leah was the type of person who would always take her shirt off for anyone,” she said.

“She helped us, she donated to our team on several occasions, and she also donated on several occasions for horseback riding for people with disabilities…she was a very generous person.”

Decades before detection

Melita Markey, CEO of the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia, said raising awareness of asbestos-related diseases could help prevent deaths and prolong lives.

She said if anyone identified they may have been exposed to asbestos in the past, it was important to act immediately.

“Early detection of many diseases is essential, especially asbestos-related lung cancer, which is more common than mesothelioma, and at an early stage these days it is quite treatable,” a- she declared.

“The sooner we can detect it…that will give people many treatment options.”

She also suggested checking to see if you may have been exposed to asbestos as a child, such as during a home renovation.

Melita Markey

Melita Markey says early detection of asbestos-related illnesses can prolong or even save lives. (ABC News: Nicolas Martyr)

“Asbestos-related diseases have a long latency period, which means they can take up to 30 or even 50 years to appear,” she explained.

“(Children are) much closer to capturing fiber, ingesting more fiber, and what happens is they grow, so the fiber can lodge in the pleura of their lungs and , over time, create mutations, which can then lead to cancers.

“We have learned that children are much more vulnerable to asbestos fibers than adults.”

Mr Smith hoped asking people to ride in shorts could warn other Australians in the future, especially if they had been exposed decades ago.

This year, Ride in Shorts for Leah raised just under $3,500 to increase awareness of the dangers of asbestos.

But Mr Smith hoped that figure could be increased in the future.

“We would really like to see this evolve into an annual event, that we can do more of it, that we can raise more awareness,” he said.