🔗 Share this article

Alison Gaffney and Fraser's father were given devastating news in 2018 when their young son Fraser was found to have a uncommon form of blood cancer.

24 months of gruelling treatment followed, comprising cancer medications, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy before a cellular therapy. Fraser, at three years old, made a extraordinary turnaround from the surgery, with physicians announcing the illness in remission.

It was at this point that Alison, aged thirty-six, began seeking answers. She could not stop thinking about observations made by hospital staff at the time of her Fraser's condition. “We lose sleep wondering how he got his cancer,” a consultant had told her.

“It keeps us up at night wondering how Fraser got his cancer,” a doctor had told her.

Past Events

The botched disposal of vast quantities of toxic materials after the closure of the town's primary employer in the town in 1979 had “widely acknowledged,” said Alison. A court ruling associated the improper remediation efforts of the site to a series of birth defects in community youth during the twentieth century.

Gradually, Gaffney started to connect the case to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not inherited,” she said. “What's the explanation? … It must be down to the town. So many children [with] the disease.

“Each person here knows somebody who’s got a child [with] illness. This isn't typical.”

Collective Efforts

Gaffney and Hinde started to reach out to other families in their community with parallel situations – featuring some of Gaffney’s former classmates at a local school – and the organization began gathering comprehensive documentation on those affected. They now head a campaign representing about 130 families with cases of youth disease dating back to 1988.

The organization has been urging the local authority to examine any links between occurrences of childhood cancer in Corby and the closure of the facility. Soon, health authorities are expected to release their analysis of whether the area has had a unusually high rate of occurrences of pediatric illness for its inhabitants of seventy thousand.

“All we want is to try and protect future people so they do not have to endure the suffering that we've endured,” said Alison.

Legal Precedents

The decision in the court proceeding accepted that, between the 1980s and 1990s, vast quantities of toxic substances from the steel plant were moved “typically” from the south of Corby to Deene Quarry in the opposite end – with “large quantities” of toxic waste transported and deposited on public roads and “considerable amounts” of airborne particles produced by the cleanup.

Nevertheless, it also mentioned findings from the regulatory body in 1997 that discovered accumulations of toxic substances that had been left at the site were later extracted in “substantial volumes”.

Growing Suspicions

Alison believes waste was not only dumped at the Deene Quarry site but in additional areas of the community. In recent developments, she applauded a “major step forward” after municipal government said it would analyze land that could be tainted and research where toxic waste was dumped.

The mother said council staff confirmed in the conference that they did not know where the locations of hazardous substances could be. “They stated: ‘We lack information where these locations are. We have no documentation, we have nothing on it.’”

Community Support

The government declaration was also supported by another parent, a educational worker at a local school, whose young child, her daughter, was found to have blood cancer in recent months.

“I needed to cut my nine-year-old daughter's hair because her tresses was coming out from the medications she had to use to eliminate her illness. Therefore it’s in our interest, it’s in the child's wellbeing [for the council] to share that knowledge,” she said.

“Numerous residents in the area that have been diagnosed with childhood cancer and I believe it’s impossible to overlook – it demands examination. This isn't typical.”

Personal Stories

Meg Lyons, aged thirty-one, who has a professional career and now lives in London, said families earned “full transparency and transparency” from the government.

Lyons’s 11-year-old sister, the girl, died on in recent years after being confirmed to have a uncommon malignancy at the childhood. Eve, who collected money for medical research, was “one of the most adorable, entertaining and caring” people, she recalled.

Her parent remembers the effect of the shutdown of the steel plant on the town, Lyons stated. “She recalled you could not position your fingers in front of your face because [of] the colored dust.”

“This has been going on since I’ve probably been about my youth. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is negligence toward the local residents.”

Past Associations

Another family member, a local resident, was part of multiple parents connected to the court proceeding against the then Corby council after her baby was diagnosed with a foot condition. Her spouse, her partner, was one of the vehicle operators involved in handling substances from the industrial site. Their situation was depicted in a recent series, and illustrated the woman cleaning the debris from her partner's pants.

Alison said the organization has been reached out to by individuals with information who were participating in the placement of substances in the community.