INFO: Bernie's gift
Date: 27 February 2008
(l-r) Karen Banton, Maree Stokes, and Maxine McKew with Bernie’s InogenONE
Kevin Rudd said of Asbestosis sufferer and campaigner, Bernie Banton, on November 27, 2007:
“Mate, you are not going to be forgotten. When so many were prepared to cast you to one side, Bernie Banton, you have been a beacon and clarion call for what is decent and necessary in life and I salute you."
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – including Asbestosis - is the fourth leading cause of death in the US, and the only major disease with an ever increasing death rate. By 2020, COPD is predicted to become the third leading cause of death worldwide. COPD affects an estimated 100 million worldwide.
At a recent ceremony in Sydney, Maxine McKew MP and Karen Banton, widow of the late Bernie Banton, opened The Independent Living Specialists Center, Australia’s largest medical equipment warehouse/display/education centre.
They are pictured here with ADFA Vice President Maree Stokes, who is holding Bernie’s InogenONE – an award winning, state of the art portable oxygen concentrator machine he used in the last days of his life.
Karen Banton has donated to the machine to Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia.
