(The following story by Max B. Baker appeared on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on January 28.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — At 40, Linda Faust had to learn how to eat again.
Her cancerous stomach had been removed and food was moving straight to her intestines. Instead of digesting, she would go into spasms and throw up.
The food that did stay down wouldn’t be there long, forcing Faust to experience what she called “dumping.”
“You get to where you hate food,” Faust testified in court Friday, at times rubbing tears away as she described her life over the past 10 years. “Anything I put into my mouth came back up. I would heave until my chest hurt.”
Faust, now 50, is suing the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. The trial, which started Jan. 7, resumes today and is expected to last two more weeks. The Fausts are suing for at least $6 million in damages.
Faust says her problems stem from the chemicals used at a tie-making factory the railroad operated in Somerville, the southeast Texas town where she lives. Her lawyers are trying to convince a jury that the factory contributed to cancer in employees, families and residents.
Her husband, Donnie, still works at the factory, which is no longer owned by the railroad.
Internal railroad documents and manufacturer warning labels show that the substances used at the factory — particularly creosote — were hazardous to employees’ health and known to cause cancer in humans. It was recommended that employees wear rubber gloves, respirators and uniforms that should not leave the plant.
Donnie Faust and others testified that they were never given those warnings.
Lawyers for the railroad contend that the plant is not responsible for making Linda Faust and other residents sick. They point out that her husband, who has worked at the plant for decades, is not sick. They argue that a pre-existing condition made Linda Faust susceptible to stomach cancer.
During a break in the trial, Linda Faust said she worries about Donnie’s future.
“It’s hard, because I worry that Donnie is a time bomb,” she said. “You can’t change what happened to me.”
Peanut butter diet
Throughout the trial, the Fausts’ attorneys have worked hard to link Donnie Faust’s job and his wife’s illness.
On Friday, Linda Faust testified that she would clean her husband’s creosote-caked clothing. When she cleaned his work boots, she said, she would use a screwdriver and WD-40 to pry the stuff off. Faust said she didn’t wear rubber gloves when handling the clothing.
She also said she was exposed to the chemicals even though she didn’t work at the factory. The Fausts lived near the plant, and most of her part-time jobs — grocery-store cashier, waitress and bakery worker — were at nearby businesses.
The Fausts’ attorneys also have argued that Somerville has been contaminated by the plant, which Burlington Northern sold in 1995. The railroad is still responsible for cleaning up contamination in the groundwater.
Paul Rosenfeld, an environmental health expert, testified that the level of dioxins in the attic dust in 14 homes in the community was 302 times higher than the acceptable level.
Linda Faust, who moved to Somerville and married her husband in 1980, didn’t feel sick. Then she developed allergies and serious stomach problems like acid reflux. In 1998, she learned that she had stomach cancer.
Once 143 pounds, she now weighs 106 but has dropped to as low as 89 pounds. Her teeth crumbled. She nibbles on food eight to 10 times a day and sips small amounts of liquid. For two years, she survived by constantly licking a spoonful of peanut butter.
Now 50, Linda Faust is afraid to leave home. She said she has thought about committing suicide, but doesn’t because of her husband and grandson.
“This is as good as it gets,” she said.
Cigarette habit
Douglas Poole and Heather Patterson, two of the attorneys representing the railroad, pointed to medical records showing that Faust smoked one-half to a full pack of cigarettes daily for 25 years and that doctors had warned her over the years to stop smoking.
Medical records also show she has had ulcers and the bacteria Helicobacter pylori, conditions that can lead to stomach cancer. Poole said that while the chemicals used in creosote may be linked to skin cancer, they have not been linked to stomach cancer.
“She’s got the classic history of a long history of stomach problems. Ulcers. Helicobacter pylori. Those are both Class 1 carcinogens linked to stomach cancer,” Poole said.