Larry Gates Explains What Families Should Do After A Mesothelioma Diagnosis

Episode summary

When Larry Gates was 45, his father — an 81-year-old World War II veteran and Shell Refinery instrument technician in Pasadena, Texas — was diagnosed with mesothelioma. His father had worked at the refinery for 22 years, climbing towers throughout the plant without any protective equipment or warnings about asbestos. Early symptoms included a persistent cough, pain along the ribcage, and shortness of breath during simple tasks like walking to the mailbox. Six months after his official diagnosis, his father passed away. In this episode, Larry shares what that experience was like for his family, how they connected with a mesothelioma law firm through a word-of-mouth referral, and what the legal process ultimately meant for his mother. Now working as a mesothelioma advocate, Larry talks with the host about the conversations he has with newly diagnosed patients and their families — walking them through what to expect, reviewing their work histories, and helping them understand their options. He also shares the story of a client who had been offered a $39,000 settlement and was considering accepting it. His most consistent message to families: if you or a loved one notice symptoms, get to a doctor as soon as possible. Early detection, he explains, can change the range of options available to a patient.

• Early symptoms of mesothelioma described in this episode included persistent coughing, ribcage pain, and shortness of breath — Larry’s father dismissed them for months before seeking care.
• Larry emphasizes that early medical evaluation matters because, as he explains, some patients diagnosed early may be candidates for surgery or immunotherapy that aren’t available at later stages.
• Word-of-mouth referrals played a key role in how the Gates family found legal representation — they connected with a law firm through a friend of a friend who had been through a similar situation.
• Larry recounts advising a client not to cash a $39,000 settlement check, explaining that the firm he works with — Danziger and De Llano — has helped clients receive settlements averaging over a million dollars.

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Full transcript

Welcome To Meso

You're listening to Meso, the Mesothelioma podcast, where support, education, and outreach come together for families facing mesothelioma.

Hi everyone. Uh thank you for visiting our podcast. We have a guest today. His name is Larry Gates. We're excited to hear about his story. I thank Larry for taking the time to uh to be with us this morning or this afternoon. And um Larry, if you can give us a little bit um of information on um how you um how you're involved with mesothelioma. Sure. And if we can start with personal first, if you don't mind.

Yeah, definitely.

A Father’s Refinery Exposure Story

Uh well, first of all, uh thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here. When I was 45 years old, uh my father, who was who had worked at Shell Refinery uh in Pasadena, Texas, said uh at the age of 81, he was diagnosed with something I'd never heard of before, missletulioma. And then as we got into it, we knew it was uh it was a a deadly uh disease caused by uh exposure to asbestos. Um we grew up in Pasadena where all the refineries was. Uh he was a uh uh a World War II vet and went to work for Shell Refinery off 225 in Pasadena and worked there 22 years. He was a uh instrument tech. He climbed uh on the towers all across the refinery, was was went everywhere around the around the plant and uh was uh come to find out heavily exposed to asbestos. Um he was a um uh a go-getter, hardworking man. Uh after he left Shell, he started his own business, uh uh car business, and uh did he did very well at that. And uh he was an athlete on the side. Uh he played uh softball fast-pitched softball for Shell Refinery and and our and our family. I had uh two older brothers, two younger sisters, five of us. Uh the boys grew up playing baseball, and the girls, same way, volleyball. I started playing tennis also, but it was a baseball playing family, and um he was uh uh a very uh athletic man in great shape up until the age of 81 when he was diagnosed with mespothelioma.

You know, that a lot of times they say mesothelioma patients are usually active before they're diagnosed. And and um and the reason is because the asbestos fibers are moving around your body. The more active you are, obviously, the more likely you are to

Symptoms And A Rapid Decline

have an injury. What were what were his first symptoms?

Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. His first symptoms, he was started coughing a lot, you know, and then yeah, I and my my mom could hear my mom talking to me, oh, and he he said, Oh, it's nothing. It's nothing. You know, he had it probably for a few months before he finally uh he he st his ribcage started hurting, and my mother made him go to the get checked out. So but the symptoms were uh the the little the pain in the in the side of his ribcage. Uh he started getting started walking out to the uh mailbox and he started getting shortness of breath. So I said that would that wasn't him. And uh those were the beginning symptoms, and uh sure enough, that's what it was.

Aaron Powell He had mesothelioma.

The Lawsuit And What It Changed

It's my understanding that you you guys contacted a lawyer and and just tell me about that experience.

My dad had had had known a lot of people in the in this car business, and uh I guess uh he knew somebody that uh one of his friends or a friend of a friend uh had got mesothelioma and he uh uh called him and asked him who he should use. And uh they re recommended a law firm by the name of Silver Pearlman. Uh and that's uh that's uh they're no longer in business. They've been bought out by Baron and Bud. But uh at that time they were they were fairly well known. And uh since his friend had used him and and uh uh had uh done well, that's why he went to to to Silver Pearlman.

So how did it how did the lawsuit in general work out for the family? Just it w had the process, I mean, was it uh how long did it take? And and was I guess my question is, was it worth it?

Oh it was definitely worth it. I mean, uh I think my mother got uh a little over a million dollars. Um uh I thought uh, you know, at the time I thought that was great because I I didn't know much about uh how much you're supposed to get in a Mesotolioma lawsuit at the time. Uh but uh it certainly helped Heard uh with his loss. I mean, at the time he got it. Once he was officially diagnosed, uh he went downhill uh very fast. Uh he was a uh it was six months after he was officially diagnosed that he passed away and was not pleasant. Um he he he became bedridden and uh he was he was a skeleton, the human skeleton. It was a terrible thing to see. Uh and and uh but the process the the uh of get uh being able to get compensated for something that uh he he had no uh no thought about even being uh it wasn't his fault. He he he didn't know n anything about being what asbestos was, or he wasn't warned about it at work. Uh they didn't wear mask, uh nothing uh no protection at all. Uh so it it uh overall uh uh uh our family was

Turning Loss Into Advocacy

very pleased.

Aaron Ross Powell So you're a mesothelioma advocate now, and you you talk to mesothelioma patients uh you know weekly. What how do how does your experience sort of help you with that and and uh is it easy to relate to other people, I guess?

Aaron Ross Powell, Well it's a good question. It's very easy to rate with uh to to relate with them. I've been through it. Uh I can I can tell them uh what to expect, uh what not to expect, uh how long uh a case is gonna take, uh what uh what compensation you should you should take, uh what uh uh we we we very thorough about what the question we asked them finding about their work history. Uh uh so I can rate relate with the family, uh especially seeing up close and personal. Um and and and hopefully give them some hope with some of the new uh treatments that are going on that they didn't have then. Okay. So that uh but uh I relate with them very well because uh j just seeing it is just uh you you never forget it.

You know, your dad was 81 years old and I know that that your mother probably would have preferred having him in his life. I mean, because you get to the point where you're retired and you're thinking, okay, now I can relax and and bam, you're you're hit with this. And um the compensation does help because there's so much that you don't think about that people go through when they lose their partners. Sure. Um, and their expenses are there, and you don't have that individual to help you through those those different times in your life. Um so I I can I can I you know, I I know that the money is not what you would have preferred to have. Um I know that your father, you know, very special to you and your entire family, even as your your children and your grandfather. Um and uh but you know, I mean it it does help um offset some of the expenses that your mom would in would enel. And um so I you know, I my heart goes out to you because I can't I just can't fathom the pain that the entire family went through uh with his diagnosis. And um, you know, it's just um I'm I'm grateful that you're able to talk to people now about the situation because it is helpful to have um someone that you can that's been through it um uh uh that can help you through the process.

I mean to be able to do this, uh I know that every time I get uh I'm able to get a family compensated for mesothelioma, uh that my father is smiling up upstairs. So it uh it really is a a special thing. I'm uh I'm s so fortunate to be able to do this and uh uh I love doing it.

Trevor Burrus Was the process difficult or did it seem like it was fairly straightforward?

When when uh the whole legal process. You're not gonna have to worry about me financially. Uh but it was emotionally uh where she was uh she was a wreck there for a while. And so we were uh we were always going over there and it and see making sure she was okay. But uh she made it through it. Yeah.

What what would you recommend to the three or four most important things you'd share with somebody now uh who's just been diagnosed with mesothelial?

What To Do After Diagnosis

Okay. Hopefully, early diagnosis, get checked out, uh uh uh go to a doctor as soon as you can. If they catch it early, you may can beat this. You may be a candidate for surgery where they can remove the lung. Uh you may be uh a candidate for uh immunotherapy. Uh uh even the chemotherapies have changed, but early detection, getting to the doctor quick is so important. Because if you let this linger, uh it's not going away. It's a it's a battle. So I think the uh getting to it uh in uh at the earliest you can is the key.

Do you have a particular patient over the last

A Low Settlement Offer Reversed

few years? Of course you can't share their name, but uh that that you really sort of um felt camaraderie and comments.

Sure. Who would that put? Um he was a hardworking guy. Uh uh and he was um he was upset. He he was he was upset that uh he was offered a a small amount. Uh I think he was offered uh $39,000 uh for a settlement. And he was mad. And uh and he called me, got a hold of us on our website, and uh we s we spoke and I said, uh let me ask something $39,000 said, have you cashed that check? And he said, No. No, I didn't. I said, well, don't do it. Uh uh we can our firm, Danzick or Niana, can get you a lot more than that. Most of our clients, uh their average settlement is over a million dollars. So I got him to uh send that check back, get a rescission notice that uh that he didn't know he that he was going in different directions. He was worried about one thing, and that was taking care of his wife. And he he knew he couldn't do it with uh that amount of money. And at the end, um I'm still friends with his wife and his daughters, two daughters. They're so happy, very very just always uh thanking me and and and uh but she received, her mother received a little over $1.2 million. Wow. That's correct. And so that is uh Yeah, getting some see uh getting uh see what you the family got and uh just remark

How Larry Joined The Firm

them.

Well one of the things we didn't ask you is how did you get to Danza Grandiano? How did you how did that all come about?

Well, I think what are the odds of that, right? Trevor Burrus, Jr. What are the odds? I tell you. Well, I was uh I was uh I had a uh successful insurance agency that I had had the bad idea of the sell, and uh I was gonna take that money and make uh make some more money with it. And uh that that didn't work out as as as good as what I thought it was. So I said I was looking around about what to do, and I said uh um I I saw an ad uh uh uh on my cell phone. It said uh Dan Sugardiano, uh looking for uh uh uh a Missothelioma um uh advocate or uh someone to call uh class, and I said, you know, and so I I I took a chance and picked up the phone and I got a guy by the name of uh Paul Danziger on the phone. Had a had a kind of a a different voice, okay. And I said uh uh his tone of uh big voice. And then I uh uh was lucky enough, uh uh fortunate enough to be able to come interview with them.

Uh good, good, good, good.

I think that we all bring a little bit of our personal lives with these people. I think uh being able to work with um individuals that have gone through or going through such a difficult time in their life that we've all had um things like that in our own lives that we are able to use with the clients. Uh Dave's father passed away from uh lung cancer, I believe. Um my late husband passed away from cancer as well, and then your dad. Yeah. And um I I know that we don't we we don't know everyone's, you know, what they're going through. We can't fathom. We're all different, and we all um we all grieve differently, uh, but we ha uh we do grieve over family members that we have lost. And it's a huge loss. It's a huge loss.

Closing Resources And Support

Thank you for listening to MESO, the MESO Thelioma podcast. For more information, resources, and support, visit our sponsors Danziger and Diano at Dandel.com.

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Frequently asked questions

What were the first signs Larry’s father had mesothelioma?

As Larry describes it, his father first developed a persistent cough that he brushed off for months. Eventually he began experiencing pain along his ribcage and noticed he was getting short of breath just walking to the mailbox — which his family recognized as unusual for a man who had been very physically active his entire life. Those symptoms led his mother to insist he get checked out.

How long did Larry’s father live after his mesothelioma diagnosis?

According to Larry, his father passed away approximately six months after his official mesothelioma diagnosis. He describes that period as a rapid and difficult decline.

What does Larry say families should do right after a mesothelioma diagnosis?

Larry’s clearest message in the episode is to seek medical attention as quickly as possible. He explains that early detection can mean more options — he mentions surgery and immunotherapy as possibilities for some patients — and that waiting allows the disease to progress. He also encourages families to carefully review any legal or settlement offers they receive before acting on them.

How did the Gates family find a mesothelioma attorney?

As Larry tells it, his father already knew someone in his car business whose friend had gone through a similar situation and recommended a law firm — Silver Pearlman at the time, which Larry notes has since been acquired by Baron and Budd. The referral came through personal connections rather than advertising.

Is it worth consulting a mesothelioma specialist or attorney even if you’ve already received a settlement offer?

Larry shares a specific example in the episode of a client who had been offered $39,000 and was close to accepting it. Larry encouraged him not to cash the check, and the client ultimately worked with Danziger and De Llano, the firm Larry is associated with. This episode discusses those experiences for educational purposes — families considering legal options may benefit from learning about the range of outcomes others have experienced and speaking with a qualified mesothelioma attorney before making any decisions.

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