Question Stop TMPro clearing mesh when GameObject is set not active?

Is there a way to have mesh persist for a a TMPro object when the object is set to non active. Currently it seems if you disable the object the mesh is cleared. I want to be able to combine the mesh with other meshes but I dont want the original visible in the scene when I do it. I have tried setting it to active just prior to getting the mesh data but it is still clear. I dont want to have to call TMPro methods to get the mesh.