The rate of deaths from a cancer caused by asbestos will rise in the next three years. Already, the devastating condition has caused at least 104 deaths in the Towns.

Mesothelioma is incurable and the patient usually dies within a year of diagnosis. Medway has the second highest death rate from the disease in England and Wales.

Today's Medway Messenger has a special report on the extent of the illness, including interviews with families directly affected by the consequences of working with asbestos years ago. The disease can linger undetected for up to 45 years.

Avril Gooding-Grant, 54, from Hoo, pictured, has lost a husband and a partner to the illness.

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Asbestos was widely used as a construction insulation material. At Chatham Dockyard, one of the biggest employers, it was instrumental in all aspects of ship building and ship repairs.

At the British Uralite factory in Higham, chimney pots, pipes and tiles were made from raw asbestos. Similarly, it was also used in power stations and heavy engineering plants in the Towns.

Asbestos was also used as a building material in schools and homes between the 1950s and 1980s. While the dockyard and British Uralite have long since closed they have left behind a legacy of death.

The increasing number of fatalities prompted nurse Frances McKay, a nurse based at Medway Maritime Hospital’s lung cancer and mesothelioma unit, to start a monthly support group for patients and their families.

Symptoms are shortness of breath, chest pains, weight loss and unexplained tiredness

Mrs McKay said: "While there is still no cure, five years ago there was nothing we could do. But today, because of the advance in medicine, if the patient is well enough we can use chemotherapy.

"It is not like other cancers. It is not a solid substance that is easily visible like a tumour. It is a paste which wraps itself around the lining of the lungs."

She feels any predicted number of those who may fall victim to the illness is unreliable.

She said: "It is not just those who have worked directly with the material who may be affected. The dust would have been in the air so it is also those who have worked alongside them. Men and women used to work all day long handling asbestos and then they would travel together on the bus to and from work in their work clothes.

"Asbestos particles would be in the air around them at all times."

Mrs McKay has organised a series of conferences to raise awareness, including one in the former naval base which attracted 200 visitors.

Her unit, which she runs with fellow nurse Caroline Williams and Pat Cameron from the Wisdom Hospice, won the Department of Health’s health and social care certificate in 2008.

She said: "In Medway, we have the expertise. We are good at detecting it and we know how to support the patient and victim.

"Our unit is the only one of its kind in Kent. It is the best place to be if you do contract the illness. "