The widow of an award-winning Sheffield firefighter who died of lung cancer within 20 hours of diagnosis wants greater recognition of the profession’s health risks.
Firefighting and cancer risks
Anne Davies feels exposure to toxic substances and carcinogens while at work contributed to her husband Jeff Simpson’s lung disease, and insufficient health monitoring meant his cancer was not found until it was too late. She “cannot help but wonder” why the links between his profession and lung disease were not made, which could have led to more comprehensive care.
Jeff was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease in 2018 after developing a cough. Over the next several years he became increasingly short of breath, but saw no significant changes to the monitoring figures in his lung clinics. Interstitial lung disease is a risk factor for the small cell carcinoma that Jeff later developed, but he did not receive regular testing for lung cancer.
He lacked many of the other risk factors for lung cancer. He never smoked, played football socially until his 40s, and was an avid hiker. Anne said after health assessments at the fire service he would tell her he was one of the fittest firefighters in the brigade.
A routine blood test in April 2024 showed low sodium levels, and his GP ordered that he urgently go to hospital. A CT scan at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital showed he had lung cancer which had spread to his liver and lymph nodes. Jeff and Anne were told there were no treatment options as his lungs were in such a poor state. He died in Anne’s arms just 20 hours later.
Lung disease and toxic exposure
Anne said after Jeff’s lung disease diagnosis in 2018 she “tried very hard to pretend it wasn’t happening”, but after his death she began researching the links between firefighting and lung cancer.
She found there is a shortage of research in the UK, but an American study discovered the prevalence of interstitial lung disease among firefighters was around four times that of the general working population. She also found that other than smoking and genetics, the main cause of interstitial lung disease is breathing in toxins.
She said: “The only place that Jeff was subject to toxic fumes was at work. He didn’t do anything dangerous during his leisure.”
In the United States, Canada, and Australia there is presumptive legislation. This means if someone in certain occupations falls ill and particular conditions are met, then the illness will automatically be considered occupationally related. In the UK there is a much stricter burden of proof, and an illness must be twice as prevalent in people of a given profession for it to be considered an occupational disease.
Anne said, “the last doctor who treated Jeff wasn’t even aware that firefighting was a threat to health”, despite the fact that the Scottish Fire Brigade Union found that firefighters have up to a six times higher risk of some cancers than the general population.
She now wants to encourage other firefighters to take steps to monitor their health and protect themselves from the risks of their job. Her advice is: “Go to the doctor, tell them what your occupation is. Ask to be screened. If you’re coughing badly, or have any other symptoms of cancer, then go straightaway to your GP.”
Jeff’s legacy
Jeff was brought up in Chapeltown, South Yorkshire, and became a firefighter in 1983. While working for the London Fire Brigade he earned two medals for saving a 14-year-old boy who had fallen through ice at the London Docks. In 1991 he joined the Sheffield Fire Brigade, where he remained until his retirement in the winter of 2017.
He was a father of four and grandfather of two, and his three loves were his family, Sheffield Wednesday and the fire brigade.
Speaking of her campaign, Anne said: “It is important to me because I don’t want other families to be in the same position as we are. Jeff died too young, too suddenly, and it has left a hole in our family that cannot ever be filled.”
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