A grandfather of five learned he has an aggressive form of cancer after doctors initially told him his symptoms were simply due to a chest infection.

Steven Kenny from London, England, was a demolition worker as a young man, specifically working on the refurbishment at the Old Bank of England during the late 1970s, according to the Southwest News Service, via theDaily Mail.

The 64-year-old recalled working regularly in unsafe conditions with asbestos exposure, which he didn’t realize the severity of until years later.

“Asbestos was falling around us like snow,” he told the outlet. “We were eating our sandwiches in there and everything. There were no safety measures — it wasn’t a thing like it is now,” he explained. “I suppose we knew (the asbestos) wasn’t good for you, but I don’t think we knew how harmful it really was at the time. There were lots of other jobs that had asbestos, but nothing like this. The dust was all over. We were just smothered in it for weeks.”

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than four decades later, Kenny started to deal with symptoms that doctors attributed to a chest infection.

“They thought he had a chest infection, but it wasn’t going away.” his wife Debbie shared.

However, when the infection persisted, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer that can affect the linings of the lungs, abdomen or heart. It is typically caused by the inhalation of asbestosand the disease can develop 15 to 40 years after exposure.

“My diagnosis with mesothelioma came as a huge shock,” Kenny said. “I am going to fight this as much as I can, but this has been a really difficult and distressing time for me and my family.”

Kenny has since undergone immunotherapy and is now on his third round of chemotherapy. Although there is no cure and his prognosis isn’t great, he’s trying to remain strong.

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Debbie, 58, told the outlet that she believes her husband “would have died” if not diagnosed and treated by the NHS when he was.

“We are on borrowed time. As a family, we feel like we have been cheated,” she said. “This was our time to start enjoying life, but that has all been taken away. We have worked and given a nice home to our kids. I’m worried sick every time we go away that Steve’s going to be ill. It’s not the same. We’ve had to cut holidays short because he became ill.”

“Steve is the strongest person out of all of us,” she continued. “We’ve got to make the best of what we’ve got. He’s putting on a brave face for his family… It’s horrible realising he can’t do the things he used to do.”