A 27-year-old British woman, who believes she may have contracted mesothelioma on her walk to school as a child by passing a factory yard where asbestos sheets were cut, is the youngest recorded victim of the disease.

The Oldham Advertiser reports that Leigh Carlisle, of Failsworth, had doctors stumped as to how she was exposed once they concluded that her severe respiratory problems were indeed a result of mesothelioma. A look into Carlisle’s past resulted in focusing on the short cut she always took on the way to and from school.

“I used to take a short cut across a yard in Failsworth on my way to primary school,” Carlisle told the doctors. “I know that men working there cut asbestos sheets and handled asbestos materials in the yard, but I had no idea that by walking through the yard I could have inadvertently got cancer.”

Carlisle, who first consulted doctors a few years ago, said: “It took several years for doctors to diagnose me with mesothelioma. I was passed from pillar to post between various hospitals until they realized what was wrong with me.”

Now, Carlisle hopes to spend the time she has left raising awareness of the disease and welcomes a recent announcement by the British government stating that they hope to organize better health services for those with mesothelioma.

“Mesothelioma is a very cruel disease, for which there is no cure,” said Carlisle’s attorney, Adrian Budgen. “Ms. Carlisle’s case shows that mesothelioma cannot be regarded as an ‘old person’s disease’ any longer. We are aware of a growing number of people who have developed mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos dust on their loved one’s work clothes.”

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