Ever since she first met him more than 40 years ago Angela Glasscoo has been in awe of her husband Jeffery's incredible fitness, stamina and physique.

"He was unbelievably fit; an amazing man. There was never an ounce of fat on him. He played football in competitive leagues well into 40s, until he got an ankle injury.

"And he was always on his bike. Whenever the sun came out he'd put on his shorts and he'd be out cycling. He did the London to Brighton cycle run. I've never known a fitter man."

But suddenly Jeffery Glasscoo – known to his friends as "Seppy" – found he was struggling and puffing to walk up a hill.

"We were on holiday in Cornwall in June, 2007, with another couple and were walking up to our camper van when I noticed that he was wheezing. I'd never known him do that."

It was the beginning of the end for father-of-two Mr Glasscoo, of Covingham in Swindon.

He had contracted lethal mesothelioma as a result of being exposed to asbestos decades earlier while working at Swindon's railway works and in later years the town's Rover car plant.

Despite a courageous battle, including two sessions of chemotherapy and an aborted operation to remove internal organs, Mr Glasscoo died last month at the age of 63, 18 months after the condition was diagnosed.

Yesterday Mrs Glasscoo, 60, recounted her husband's rapid decline to highlight the British Lung Foundation's Action Mesothelioma Day today.

In the UK one person dies every five hours from the cancer, often after an agonising final few months.

Like many Swindonians at the time, Mr Glasscoo began his working life at the railway works, spending six years there from 15 to 21 as an apprentice welder.

Asbestos was widely used to lag pipes in locomotives and for other insulation purposes.

Mr Glasscoo later told his wife that some of the lads there had asbestos snowball fights, hurling clumps of the dust at each other.

And some of the older workers used asbestos to make pillows to have a sly snooze.

Mr Glasscoo left in 1965 and had a number of jobs before joining Swindon's other huge factory, the Rover car panel plan. Rover too used asbestos for insulation at the time, although to a lesser degree.

He took early retirement when Rover was taken over by BMW in 2000.

His mesothelioma was diagnosed in July 2007 and soon afterwards he had chemotherapy. Surgeons tried an operation to remove one lung, the lining of his heart and his diaphragm but it had to be aborted.

His condition appeared to stabilise for several months but reappeared with a vengeance last autumn, causing him severe pain.

Mrs Glasscoo – whose children are Helen, 33, and Stephanie, 31 – said: "He was victimised by this vile disease in a big, big way."

Mr Glasscoo, once a player for Wootton Bassett Football Club, died on January 7. About 400 people attended his funeral where £2,500 was raised for mesothelioma research and the care of terminally ill patients.

Mrs Glasscoo's lawyer Brigitte Chandler of Swindon-based Charles Lucas & Marshall, who has won millions for mesothelioma victims and families, said: "Asbestos was widely used in factories, ships, locomotives and even buildings such as hospitals and schools. It is now the biggest cause of work-related death in the UK."