When John Overbye started working on houses and buildings on Bowen back in 1993, he’d help people out––charge less, do a favour here and there––and now he needs some help.
A shipwright and cabinet-maker by trade now has mesothelioma, a condition brought on by asbestos exposure.
“It was really bad in those [early] days, because we didn’t have any rules or regulations,” says John. “You go into a house, you don’t know what you’re digging into.
“You’re wearing gloves and masks and all that kind of stuff, you still don’t know.”
While regular cancer treatment is covered under medicare, John’s doctors are trying a potentially life-extending drug that’s experimental and therefore not covered. Workers Compensation is covering the cost of the drug but John has to go into a private clinic at $200 a session. John’s not working right now and it’s unclear how much he’ll be able to work in the future.
Friends have set up a Gofundme to help John with some of his costs over the next few years for which he’s grateful. While John’s no longer paying rent thanks to a kind landlord, he’ll have other expenses as the cancer and treatments progress. The fundraiser has raised $8,900 of its $30,000 goal.
“A lot of my friends are hugely generous in helping me,” says John. “And I’m not really talking about the money there but just in spirit, giving me hands with whatever I need to do.”
“Somebody here always looks after you on Bowen Island, which is one of the great things about living here.”
John started boat building at 17 as an apprentice at Mosquito Creek. “It wasn’t very pleasant at the time,” he says. “For me it was all about fixing old wooden boats…but in that I learned a lot.”
By the fourth year of his apprenticeship John was building 27-foot sailboats. After his apprenticeship, John slipped into cabinetmaking where there was more money and more work. After more than a decade of that, he moved into renovations. “I wasn’t so good at the renovations because I’m a shop guy…
“It’s all about using levels and squares, where before I was only using a square because when you build boats, you don’t use a level.”
John moved to Bowen Island permanently in 1993 and has since worked on many developments––Cates Hill, the Ruddy Potato, Rivendell––and done many a smaller project, carports and the like. Hearkening to his wooden ship roots, John likes mortar and tenon joints and high-end finishing. “I’m old-school,” he says.
Last year, John got very sick and started having breathing problems. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong but the sickness passed. A few months later, fluid started building up on his side. December 14, John was diagnosed with mesothelioma.
Most common among people who’ve worked regularly with raw asbestos or asbestos-containing products, mesothelioma develops when the mineral fibres are inhaled and then lodge in the mesothelium––a thin tissue surrounding most internal organs. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is 12 to 21 months, though treatments like the one John’s on now can extend that. John’s hoping for four to five years.
Before 1990, asbestos was a common insulating and fireproofing material in homes. Use of the mineral was banned in Canada in 2018.
“A lot of that work in those days on these older houses, I got my part of my cancer from that,” says John. “The other part of it was from working in Vancouver on these malls because in those days they would spray the ceilings with asbestos. They never painted it.
“We didn’t know anything about it in those days.”
As an avid boater and motorcycle rider, there are a few things John still hopes to do, including ride across Canada, and he does his best to stay positive.
“Always looking at the bright side, always having fun,” he says. “I’m not afraid of death because I’ve lived a really good life. I’ve traveled the world many times.”
“I’ve covered probably all the West Coast, every little town, by motorcycle in the last 10 years.
“I’ve lived a good life, full life almost,” he says. “Not that I want it to end. I still want to do some more riding.”
Islanders can contribute to the ‘Help John beat cancer’ fund at gofundme.com/f/aa8y2-help-john or directly through First Credit Union.
