Navy veteran Mike Nelson fought through surgery and a long recovery from cancer tied to asbestos. Today, he is thriving and serving his community.
It was New Year’s Eve 1963 when Mike Nelson hopped on a bus and headed to boot camp. He had just turned 18 and had enlisted in the U.S. Navy, proud to serve his country in the early years of the Vietnam War.
As a young sailor assigned to the USS Ponchatoula, an oiler ship that refueled other vessels and aircraft during the war, Mike worked as a boiler tender five stories below the water line. It was a demanding and dangerous job that required the ship to criss-cross the Pacific from home base in Pearl Harbor, Hawai‘i, to the coast of Vietnam.
In addition to the immediate wartime perils, what Mike and countless shipmates didn’t know was that, every day, they were breathing asbestos dust and particles from the insulation, gaskets and valves surrounding them in the boiler room.
Mike’s job was to maintain the water pumps that provided water to the boilers. Temperatures around the pumps and machinery routinely exceeded 100 degrees. Sailors toiled eight hours at a time without respirator masks, gloves and protective clothing.
“Everything in that boiler room was wrapped in asbestos. Nobody told us it was dangerous,” Mike recalled. “There was a lot of dirt and dust and oil. We used compressed air to blow things off and of course that just stirred it up worse. And asbestos being pretty loose, you’d get a lot of asbestos into the air.”
During a period when one of the ship’s boilers was damaged and the Ponchatoula was taken out of service, Mike and his shipmates took part in an exhaustive repair of the machinery, requiring the crew to crawl inside the boiler to chip away and scrub debris with wire brushes.
“It wasn’t the greatest job in the world, but we thought we were the best for that ship,” he said. “I really didn’t find out how bad asbestos could be until after I got out of the service.”
A Life-Changing Lung Cancer Diagnosis
After his discharge, Mike started a family and built a life in North Texas, working most of his career as a long-haul truck driver. In retirement, he gave his time as a volunteer in leadership positions in veteran organizations including to the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, where he currently serves as commander. He and his partner, Kathy, traveled the U.S. on a three-wheeler can-am motorcycle, and you could find him several nights a week at the VFW hall, two-stepping to country music and holding court around the bar. During the holidays, Mike became known as a go-to stand-in for Santa Claus; his only rule – he would not charge for his appearances.
Sometime in 2023, Mike began to notice feeling short of breath at times. “Everybody who knows me knows that I dance a lot,” he said. “I noticed I couldn’t stay on the floor near as long, but I just attributed it to getting older.”
During a routine checkup at the Dallas VA Medical Center in early 2024, doctors found two small spots on Mike’s lungs. Within weeks, a diagnosis came back: lung cancer on both sides.
Mike’s experience is not unusual for veterans and others who worked around asbestos. Asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma and lung cancer are known to take decades for symptoms to appear. When symptoms develop, the disease is often in a serious advanced stage. Victims are faced with grave health concerns and mounting financial pressures at a time when they’re typically at retirement age and on fixed incomes.
In early 2024, Mike underwent his first surgery, losing one lobe of his left lung. Months later, a second, more invasive surgery removed two lobes from his right lung. What followed was a grueling six-month hospital stay—months of breathing tubes, feeding tubes, pneumonia scares and slow recovery.
“I went from 315 pounds down to 260,” Mike said. “It took months before I could even eat solid food again.”
Seeking Accountability for Asbestos Exposure
A veteran friend heard about Mike’s diagnosis and advised him to think about filing a lawsuit over his asbestos exposure. Mike’s case represents both the hidden cost of military service and the importance of holding corporations accountable for decades of negligence. For generations, producers, manufacturers and retailers of products containing asbestos have known about the direct link between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma cancer, yet they failed to warn and — in many cases — actively concealed the dangers.
Mike contacted trial lawyer Chris Johnson, who focuses his practice on asbestos-exposure litigation. Chris is a partner at Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel, a firm with vast experience handling asbestos litigation for men and women who were exposed to asbestos in the military, particularly those who served in and around the many military bases in the area.
Throughout the 20th century, generations of service members were exposed to asbestos while serving their country. Prized for its heat resistant qualities, asbestos was a key component of machinery like the boilers and valves that Mike worked with and a wide variety of other applications.
Like service members, workers in manufacturing and heavy industry were often exposed to asbestos without protective equipment or warnings about its dangers. Cancers, including mesothelioma, have also been linked to exposure to products containing talcum powder that is often contaminated with asbestos.
The Complexity of Asbestos Litigation
Asbestos litigation is complex and requires extensive knowledge of scientific and medical issues, as well as the ability to find and maintain corporate documents and extract information from corporate representatives and battle powerful corporate defense attorneys. Lawsuits have revealed that producers, manufacturers and retailers of products and machinery containing asbestos have long known about the dangers of asbestos exposure, yet they failed to warn and often concealed the known dangers associated with asbestos. As a result, service members like Mike were not warned about those risks or provided safety equipment to protect themselves from exposure.
“We have been working with asbestos related cases for decades, and we have tons of collective experience, hundreds of years litigating cases involving asbestos related diseases in just about every state in the country,” said Johnson. “We do every single thing we can to get their case as ready as possible for trial. We want the defense to know that we will try their case to a jury. If the defense wants to settle their case for a reasonable amount, then we’ll do that.”
The firm filed claims on Mike’s behalf and secured multiple settlements from defendants responsible for the asbestos materials he worked with. Before undergoing his surgeries, Mike gave a detailed deposition, sharing how his work aboard the Ponchatoula exposed him to asbestos on a daily basis and how Navy manuals never mentioned asbestos hazards.
The law firm’s investigation confirmed that the products aboard the Ponchatoula—including valves, pumps, and insulation—were made by private manufacturers that knew the risks of asbestos but failed to warn service members and others who came in contact with the material.
Leveling the Playing Field with a Lung Cancer Lawsuit
For clients like Mike, one of the most important tools for achieving justice is the contingent fee model. Lawsuits against large corporations that manufactured or supplied asbestos-containing products require exhaustive investigation, expert testimony and significant financial resources.
Most individuals simply cannot afford to take on that burden—especially while facing a serious illness. A contingent fee arrangement removes that barrier. It allows victims to pursue accountability without paying upfront legal fees or litigation expenses. Instead, the firm advances the costs and is paid only if the client obtains a recovery. This model ensures that people harmed by toxic exposure have meaningful access to the courts, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Standing Up for Veterans
Mike’s lung cancer lawsuit represents both the hidden cost of military service and the importance of holding corporations accountable for decades of negligence. Through courage, perseverance and the support of his legal team, he’s turned a painful experience into a story of strength and awareness.
“Unfortunately, Mike’s case is very similar to other folks who have been exposed to asbestos,” Johnson said. “It’s very familiar, and it’s really unfortunate.”
Today, Mike is in good health. He has monthly visits at the VA hospital for x-rays and is looking forward to an all-clear report from VA doctors. The surgery on his lungs means he sometimes struggles for breath, but he still hits the dance floor three or four times a week. He’s grateful for the results from the lawsuit and the acknowledgement from asbestos manufacturers about their failures to warn about the dangers of asbestos. He encourages other vets to seek out legal assistance.
“If I can make it, other veterans can too,” Nelson said.
Client Name: Mike Nelson
Diagnosis: Lung Cancer
Source of Asbestos Exposure: Asbestos products that Mike worked with as a boiler tender on the USS Ponchatoula
Mike Nelson was exposed to cancer-causing asbestos while in service in the US Navy during the Vietnam war. Mike served as a boiler tender, working deep below sea level as the ship criss-crossed the Pacific Ocean. He spent long hours surrounded by heavy machinery that was covered in asbestos. In 2024, Mike noticed that he was increasingly short of breath and went for a checkup at the Dallas VA Medical Center. X-rays revealed spots on his lungs and a lung cancer diagnosis. Working with lawyers at Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel, Mike sued parties responsible for manufacturing products containing asbestos for failing to warn users of the known dangers. The WKPS team secured favorable settlements with numerous parties in 2025, providing Mike and his family with financial resources to assist in his recovery.
Return to Client Stories
That’s the first question everyone asks. The truth is it’s impossible to know. But we can tell you this. Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel has what it takes to fight against big corporate interests and win.
