🔗 Share this article

A local mother and Fraser's father were given heartbreaking information in 2018 when their 17-month-old their baby was confirmed to have a rare type of leukaemia.

An extended period of demanding therapies ensued, including drug treatments, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy before a cellular therapy. The young boy, at three years old, made a extraordinary turnaround from the procedure, with physicians announcing the disease in regression.

As Fraser improved that Gaffney, in her mid-thirties, began looking for causes. She constantly recalled observations made by healthcare workers at the time of her child's illness. “We're tormented wondering how Fraser got his illness,” a specialist had shared with her.

“We're constantly wondering wondering how he got his illness,” a consultant had told her.

Historical Context

The negligent management of millions of tonnes of toxic materials after the shutdown of a major industrial facility in this community in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said the mother. A court ruling connected the council’s negligent clean-up of the site to a cluster of developmental issues in local children during the 1980s and 1990s.

Over time, the concerned mother started to associate the situation to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not inherited,” she stated. “What's the explanation? … It must be down to the town. All these kids [with] cancer.

“Every resident knows someone who’s got a child [with] cancer. This isn't typical.”

Grassroots Movement

Alison and Andy started to contact other families in Corby with comparable experiences – among them some of Gaffney’s past schoolmates at Brooke Weston Academy – and the organization began compiling detailed records on those involved. They now lead a campaign advocating for about 130 families with cases of youth disease going back to 1988.

The group has been pressuring the town council to investigate any relationships between occurrences of childhood cancer in this community and the shutdown of the facility. At the end of this month, public health officials are expected to release their analysis of whether the community has had a disproportionate number of instances of childhood cancer for its residents of 70,000.

“What we seek is to try and protect subsequent residents so they do not have to endure the suffering that we've experienced,” said Alison.

Legal Precedents

The ruling in the legal case recognized that, between a fourteen-year period, vast quantities of contaminated materials from the manufacturing site were transported “typically” from the south of Corby to a designated site in the northern section – with “substantial volumes” of hazardous materials carried and dumped on local thoroughfares and “substantial quantities” of particulate matter created by the cleanup.

Nonetheless, it also cited documents from the regulatory body in 1997 that identified accumulations of toxic substances that had been left at Deene Quarry were later extracted in “large quantities”.

Growing Suspicions

Alison believes toxic substances was not merely deposited at the Deene Quarry site but in other parts of the community. In recent developments, she welcomed a “significant progress” after municipal government said it would test soil that could be contaminated and study where toxic waste was disposed of.

Alison said council staff confirmed in the meeting that they did not know where the areas of hazardous substances could be. “They said: ‘We're uncertain where these locations are. We have no documentation, there's no data available.’”

Community Support

The council’s announcement was also welcomed by a community member, a educational worker at a primary school, whose nine-year-old daughter, Bella, was found to have leukaemia in recent months.

“I needed to cut my nine-year-old daughter's head because her hair was falling out from the medications she had to take to destroy her cancer. Therefore it’s in our interest, it’s in her daughter's welfare [for the council] to share that data,” she explained.

“Numerous residents in the town that have been diagnosed with childhood cancer and I just feel it’s impossible to overlook – it requires investigation. This can’t be normal.”

Family Experiences

Another resident, 31, who has a professional career and now lives in London, said households earned “full transparency and clarity” from the local authority.

Her family member, her sister, died on in recent years after being found to have a specific illness at the young age. Eve, who fundraised for medical research, was “one of the most charming, funniest and kindest” individuals, the sister said.

Her parent remembers the consequence of the closure of the steel plant on the area, she explained. “She recalled you were unable to place your palm in ahead of you because [of] the colored dust.”

“This situation has persisted since I was approximately about my youth. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is carelessness toward the community members.”

Past Associations

Lyons’s cousin, a community member, was among numerous parents connected to the legal case against the former government after her baby was had a foot condition. Her partner, her partner, was among the vehicle operators participating in removing waste from the industrial site. Their experience was depicted in a television program, and illustrated Maggie beating the particles from her husband’s jeans.

The campaign leader said the organization has been approached by whistleblowers who were responsible for the placement of waste in the community.