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Alison Gaffney and Andy Hinde faced devastating information in 2018 when their 17-month-old Fraser was found to have a rare type of blood cancer.

An extended period of intensive medical care came next, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy before a cellular therapy. The young boy, by age three, made a remarkable improvement from the surgery, with doctors declaring the disease in remission.

It was at this point that the mother, aged thirty-six, began looking for answers. She constantly recalled observations made by hospital staff at the time of her son’s diagnosis. “It keeps us up at night wondering how Fraser got his disease,” a specialist had shared with her.

“We're constantly wondering wondering how our son got his disease,” a specialist had told her.

Background Information

The negligent management of vast quantities of toxic materials after the shutdown of the town's primary employer in Corby in 1979 had “long been recognized,” said the mother. A legal proceeding connected the improper remediation efforts of the site to a series of birth defects in community youth during the 1980s and 1990s.

Over time, the concerned mother started to associate the situation to her own. “[His illness] is not genetic,” she stated. “What could cause this? … It’s got to be down to the town. Numerous young people [with] cancer.

“Every resident knows somebody who’s got a child [with] cancer. That's unusual.”

Community Action

The parents started to reach out to more parents in Corby with parallel situations – among them some of Gaffney’s ex-school friends at their former educational institution – and the collective began assembling detailed records on those impacted. They now spearhead a initiative advocating for about many parents with situations of youth disease dating back to 1988.

The group has been urging the municipal government to research any links between instances of childhood cancer in this community and the shutdown of the plant. In the coming weeks, public health officials are preparing to share their analysis of whether the community has had a unusually high rate of instances of childhood cancer for its residents of 70,000.

“What we seek is to try and protect subsequent residents so they can avoid the pain that we’ve been through,” said the mother.

Previous Cases

The decision in the 2009 civil claim acknowledged that, between 1983 and 1997, enormous amounts of toxic substances from the manufacturing site were moved “regularly” from the southern part of town to a designated site in the opposite end – with “substantial volumes” of contaminated substances transported and deposited on public roads and “large volumes” of particulate matter produced by the cleanup.

Nevertheless, it also mentioned documents from the environmental authorities in 1997 that discovered collections of hazardous waste that had been abandoned at Deene Quarry were later removed in “substantial volumes”.

Expanding Concerns

Gaffney maintains contaminated materials was not merely deposited at the primary location but in other parts of the town. Lately, she approved a “major step forward” after local authorities said it would test ground that could be polluted and research where toxic waste was dumped.

Alison said local officials acknowledged in the meeting that they lacked information where the areas of hazardous substances could be. “They explained: ‘We don’t know where these locations are. There are no records, there's no data available.’”

Community Support

The official statement was also supported by a community member, a school staff member at a elementary institution, whose nine-year-old daughter, the child, was confirmed to have a hematologic malignancy in the summer.

“I had to shave my little girl's hair because her locks was coming out from the treatments she had to use to eliminate her illness. Consequently it’s in our interest, it’s in her daughter's welfare [for the council] to share that information,” she stated.

“There are so many individuals in the community that have been found to have youth disease and I believe it’s cannot be dismissed – it needs looking at. This is unusual.”

Family Experiences

Another resident, 31, who works in sales and now resides elsewhere, said families earned “complete and utter truth and clarity” from the council.

Her family member, the girl, died on in recent years after being found to have a rare bone cancer at the age of nine. Her sister, who fundraised for health organizations, was “among the adorable, entertaining and caring” people, the sister said.

Her mother recollects the effect of the cessation of the manufacturing site on the community, the woman stated. “She said you couldn’t put your palm in before you because [of] the red ash.”

“This has been going on since I was approximately about three years old. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is carelessness toward the people of Corby.”

Historical Connections

A relative, a community member, was part of multiple parents participating in the 2009 claim against the former government after her infant was diagnosed with clubfoot. Her partner, the man, was one of the vehicle operators participating in handling substances from the industrial site. Their story was shown in a television program, and demonstrated the woman beating the particles from her spouse's clothing.

Alison said the campaign group has been contacted by informants who were involved in the placement of substances in the area.