Local campaigner sets her sights on new challenge

Anna-Louise Stubbings from North Cardiff is the inspiring founder of organ donation charity Believe, set up nine years ago following the death of her husband and young son in a road traffic accident.

Now Anna is taking on a new challenge as she works to raise awareness among past and present RAF aircrew of the potential dangers of exposure to helicopter fumes. This is again a very personal cause for Anna as she takes up this battle on behalf of her late husband Zach Stubbings.

Anna, from Thornhill, met RAF flight sergeant Zach when he contacted Believe after receiving a stem cell transplant.  Tragically, Zach died from myeloma in January this year, aged only 47.

The BBC reports he was one of at least six people who received an out-of-court settlement from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), although the MoD has not accepted liability. 

Anna and Zach Stubbings

The BBC adds that Hugh James solicitors say they have been contacted by 180 aircrew and veterans, concerned their cancer may have developed as a result of their service.  The law firm is said to be following up claims relating to Sea King, CH-47 Chinook, Westland Wessex, and Puma helicopters. Diseases contracted by some of the crew who flew the helicopters include cancers of the lung, throat, testicles and some other rare forms of blood cancer.

The MoD told the BBC it believed engine exhaust emissions were of no risk to health but it was conducting monitoring to enable it to demonstrate this.  In May, the Independent Medical Expert Group, which advises the MoD, reportedly found insufficient evidence to establish a clear causal relationship between exhaust emissions from Sea King helicopters and rare cancers.

Anna’s local Senedd Member, Julie Morgan, has backed her campaign, calling for appropriate personal protective equipment to be introduced for those currently serving on Puma and Chinook helicopters and for a cancer screening programme for personnel and veterans.

"It's really important to remember that there's human beings at the end of this … and my constituent has died," said Ms Morgan.   "The MoD should be as transparent as it possibly can be and I urge the MoD to carry on their investigations as swiftly as they can because it's owed to people." She also tabled a debate in the Senedd on 2 July to raise her concerns.

Anna Stubbings told us: "Zach was so committed to this cause, after his death I wanted to ensure his mission wasn't forgotten. I have been overwhelmed with the support from the community and from veterans".