Vicki & John’s Story

“When he was about 56, he started getting short of breath. We found out that he had mesothelioma, which was caused by asbestos exposure. I married my husband, John, when we were both 21. We lived in Lakeland, Minnesota. I have three boys, and now we have six grandkids. So he started working as a pipefitter when he was 18 or 19. My sister’s husband’s father died from mesothelioma just months before John was diagnosed. His widow told us that they had used Sieben Alexander. When we contacted them, the lawyer that they assigned to us was Rick Leverier, and he happened to be a friend of ours. John and he coached hockey together in the St. Croix Valley. So that’s how we came to use Sieben Alexander. They have such a vast knowledge of sites where mesothelioma has been detected in the past. They were just so efficient and so experienced at finding the results that they were looking for. John had to go through his deposition. Rick worked with him and taught him how to present himself. They were always there for us.

I think Sieben Alexander got a fair settlement for us, and I realized that the most important thing was that we were getting justice for people. It was overwhelmingly fair. He lived for an additional three years because of the surgery he had. We went to Ireland. We went on a Mediterranean cruise. He bought a truck, which my son Ben is still driving. He bought his dream fishing boat. We never really had money before that, so it made our lives very nice. And to this day, I’m very grateful. A friend of Ben’s came in and said, “Hey, I just heard on the radio that today is Mesothelioma Awareness Day.” And so we found out about the Mesothelioma Association, and ever since then, we’ve been doing fundraisers. Sieben Alexander has been very generous. They’re always our main sponsor. We have their name on our table. They’ve been very steady supporters, and this year they even gave us more. We’re very appreciative of them. If anybody mentions anything that sounds like it could be mesothelioma, I always say be sure to contact them.”