A carer who went to see her doctor with a chronic cough has been told she has incurable lung cancer caused by breathing in asbestos dust.

Lisa Doughty, 47, was given the mesothelioma diagnosis and believes it was caused by breathing in dust in her old school music room during the 1980s.

The rare terminal illness is caused by breathing in asbestos dust or fibres which can lie dormant in people’s bodies before they realise anything is wrong.

The mum-of-three, who works as a carer for her husband in Kennington, was a school pupil at the Haggerston Girls’ School in Hackney, East London where she believes she inhaled the deadly dust.

She said: “Despite being diagnosed with this I’m really positive. I know the prognosis is not good but I’m determined not to let this beat me as I have too much to lose. I could sit around worrying but my attitude is that I just have to get on with it.

“I spent a lot of time in the music room, having lessons several times a week and rehearsing plays in there. We used to sit on the desks and had to wipe white dust off them.

“There were two heavy doors at the entrance to the music room and these would constantly slam, shaking the room. The school was in pretty bad repair so maybe the dust came down from the ceiling when the door closed.”

"Despite being diagnosed with this I’m really positive. I know the prognosis is not good but I’m determined not to let this beat me" - Lisa Doughty

She is now being represented by experts from Slater and Gordon solicitors firm, who found that asbestos ceiling tiles were in place at the school while she attended there.

Mrs Doughty is hoping to raise awareness for anyone else who attended the school and may also have been exposed to asbestos, or for anyone with information to come forward to help her case.

She added: “If it was the music room at the school that was the source of my cancer then it’s possible that many others have been affected.

"I wanted to raise awareness of this and to appeal for anyone else who has been affected, pupils or teachers, to get in touch.”

Slater and Gordon’s asbestos disease specialist Edmund Young said mesothelioma is a condition which is normally associated with former industrial workers and coal miners who faced regular exposure to the dust.

But the number of those affected from other walks of life is still growing, which is why he wants former pupils, teachers and staff to help.

He said: “We are investigating whether Lisa became a victim of this terrible disease while at school and we are appealing for anyone else who may have been affected to come forward.”