A former Royal Navy employee diagnosed with an asbestos-related illness has issued a plea for help.

Jenny Turner, nee Winton, has been diagnosed with the “debilitating” pleural thickening lung disease.

The 64-year-old worked at the force’s Haslar hospital in Gosport between 1976 and 1985.

She says she was exposed to asbestos while working on the laundry presses at the hospital, with the disease taking more than 50 years to develop.

Mrs Turner has been left “breathless and exhausted” following her diagnosis but has mustered strength to fight her case.

She is making an industrial disease compensation claim against the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to support here future care.

Jenny Turner, pictured between 1976 and 1985Jenny Turner, pictured between 1976 and 1985 (Image: Alderstone Solicitors) To assist her case, Jenny needs help from anyone who also worked in the hospital laundry and has memories of the laundry presses.

Mrs Turner said she was shocked to learn asbestos played a part in her diagnosis.

She said: “It wasn’t something I had been expecting to hear.

“When I worked at the laundry I was very young, and I had no knowledge of the presence of asbestos components within the presses, other machines, and lagging on the network of pipes to the machines within the press area and throughout the laundry.

“I used to be an avid walker and gardener. But now I must stop regularly for rests to catch my breath.

“My walking pace has slowed down significantly and everything I do takes longer.

“I feel very tired, fatigued, and lethargic all the time and have much less energy."

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At the time of her exposure to asbestos, Jenny lived in Privett Road, Gosport until she married her first husband, who was in the Navy, in 1983 and she moved to Magennis Close.

Mrs Turner used to spend most of her time pressing shirts, doctors’ coats, nurses’ uniforms and porters’ coats.

The presses at Haslar had large, padded cushions upon which the garments would be placed, and asbestos was often used in manufacturing because of its insulation and fireproof properties.

Asbestos was found to be in the cushion fabric and within the laundry’s pipe network.

Several decades since Mrs Turner’s exposure, Alderstone Solicitor and the National Asbestos Helpline is helping her, and her family make the industrial disease compensation claim.

Helen Bradley, an asbestos solicitor from Alderstone Solicitors, said: “An asbestos-related lung disease takes decades to develop and after such a long time it is important to get good evidence of where the asbestos exposure occurred."

If anyone has memories of working in or near the laundry at Royal Navy Hospital Haslar in the 1970s and 1980s, call Helen at Alderstone Solicitors on 0161 238 5637.

Alternatively, email Helen at hbradley@alderstonesolicitors.co.uk.

The Royal Navy Hospital Haslar was built in the 1740s and was one of Britain's leading Royal Naval Hospitals and later a MOD hospital, until it closed in 2009.