Alison Gaffney and her partner were given heartbreaking diagnosis in 2018 when their young son Fraser was diagnosed with a uncommon form of blood cancer.
Two years of demanding therapies came next, including cancer medications, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy before a bone marrow procedure. Fraser, by age three, made a extraordinary turnaround from the surgery, with medical staff declaring the illness in recovery.
It was at this point that the mother, 36, began investigating answers. She constantly recalled comments made by medical professionals at the time of her Fraser's condition. “We lose sleep wondering how Fraser got his cancer,” a doctor had shared with her.
“It keeps us up at night wondering how he got his cancer,” a specialist had informed her.
Past Events
The botched disposal of vast quantities of contaminated waste after the closure of the town's primary employer in Corby in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said Alison. A court ruling linked the council’s negligent clean-up of the site to a string of congenital abnormalities in local children during the previous decades.
Over time, Alison started to connect the situation to her own. “[His illness] is not hereditary,” she said. “So what are the reasons? … It’s got to be down to the community. So many children [with] illness.
“Everybody in this town is acquainted with a person who’s got a minor [with] the disease. This isn't typical.”
Grassroots Movement
Gaffney and Hinde started to reach out to other families in the town with parallel situations – featuring some of the mother's ex-school friends at their former educational institution – and the collective began assembling comprehensive documentation on those involved. They now lead a initiative representing about numerous households with situations of childhood cancer dating back to 1988.
The organization has been calling on the town council to examine any links between occurrences of childhood cancer in the town and the closure of the industrial site. Soon, health authorities are set to publish their study of whether the community has had a disproportionate number of occurrences of pediatric illness for its inhabitants of seventy thousand.
“What we seek is to work to secure future people so they do not have to endure the pain that we've endured,” said the mother.
Previous Cases
The judgment in the court proceeding acknowledged that, between a fourteen-year period, enormous amounts of toxic substances from the manufacturing site were moved “regularly” from the south of Corby to a specific location in the northern section – with “large quantities” of hazardous materials transported and dropped on community streets and “considerable amounts” of dust generated by the reclamation.
Nonetheless, it also cited findings from the regulatory body in 1997 that identified collections of hazardous waste that had been deposited at the site were later removed in “substantial volumes”.
Growing Suspicions
The campaign leader suspects waste was not only dumped at the Deene Quarry site but in different locations of the town. Lately, she welcomed a “important advancement” after local authorities said it would test ground that could be polluted and investigate where toxic waste was deposited.
Gaffney said council staff acknowledged in the discussion that they did not know where the areas of hazardous substances could be. “They said: ‘We lack information where these locations are. We have no documentation, we possess no information.’”
Community Support
The government declaration was also embraced by another parent, a school staff member at a primary school, whose school-aged girl, the child, was confirmed to have a hematologic malignancy in June this year.
“I needed to cut my young child's hair because her locks was falling out from the treatments she had to administer to destroy her cancer. Therefore it’s in our interest, it’s in her daughter's welfare [for the council] to reveal that knowledge,” she said.
“Numerous individuals in the town that have been found to have youth disease and I believe it’s impossible to overlook – it needs looking at. This is unusual.”
Personal Stories
Another resident, in her early thirties, who works in sales and now has moved away, said parents merited “full transparency and openness” from the council.
Lyons’s family member, Eve, succumbed on in recent years after being found to have a uncommon malignancy at the age of nine. Eve, who collected money for health organizations, was “one of the most lovable, entertaining and kindest” persons, she said.
Her family member recalls the impact of the cessation of the industrial facility on the town, Lyons said. “She mentioned you could not position your palm in ahead of you because [of] the particulate matter.”
“This situation has persisted since around about my youth. This duration is unreasonable and it is carelessness toward the local residents.”
Past Associations
Lyons’s cousin, Maggie Mahon, was part of multiple parents connected to the 2009 claim against the then Corby council after her infant was born with a congenital issue. Her husband, her partner, was a member of the truck operators involved in removing waste from the manufacturing facility. Their experience was shown in a recent series, and demonstrated Maggie removing the particles from her spouse's clothing.
Gaffney said the collective has been contacted by whistleblowers who were responsible for the disposal of materials in the area.
