🔗 Share this article

A local mother and Andy Hinde faced devastating diagnosis in 2018 when their young son their child was diagnosed with a unusual variant of leukaemia.

An extended period of intensive medical care ensued, involving cancer medications, radiotherapy, and biological therapies before a bone marrow procedure. Their son, then aged three, made a extraordinary turnaround from the surgery, with doctors declaring the disease in recovery.

During this period that Gaffney, aged thirty-six, began seeking causes. She remained troubled by comments made by healthcare workers at the time of her Fraser's condition. “We're tormented wondering how he got his cancer,” a doctor had shared with her.

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

Past Events

The botched disposal of enormous amounts of toxic materials after the closure of a major industrial facility in this community in 1979 had “long been recognized,” said Alison. A legal proceeding associated the improper remediation efforts of the site to a series of congenital abnormalities in town residents during the twentieth century.

Increasingly, Gaffney started to link the case to her own. “[His illness] is not genetic,” she said. “What could cause this? … It must be down to the area. All these kids [with] illness.

“Everybody in this town knows someone who’s got a minor [with] illness. This isn't typical.”

Collective Efforts

Gaffney and Hinde started to connect with other families in their community with comparable experiences – including some of Alison's past schoolmates at a local school – and the collective began gathering detailed records on those impacted. They now head a movement representing about 130 families with situations of pediatric illness starting from 1988.

The organization has been pressuring the local authority to investigate any connections between occurrences of youth disease in Corby and the shutdown of the industrial site. At the end of this month, health authorities are set to publish their study of whether the community has had a disproportionate number of cases of childhood cancer for its residents of seventy thousand.

“All we want is to work to secure future people so they won't experience the pain that we've experienced,” said the mother.

Historical Context

The ruling in the court proceeding acknowledged that, between the 1980s and 1990s, enormous amounts of toxic substances from the manufacturing site were moved “regularly” from the south of Corby to Deene Quarry in the north – with “substantial volumes” of hazardous materials transported and dumped on community streets and “substantial quantities” of dust created by the remediation.

However, it also cited reports from the Environment Agency in 1997 that discovered accumulations of toxic substances that had been deposited at Deene Quarry were later removed in “substantial volumes”.

Additional Issues

The campaign leader believes contaminated materials was not only dumped at the main disposal area but in other parts of the community. Recently, she applauded a “important advancement” after local authorities said it would analyze soil that could be tainted and research where toxic waste was deposited.

Alison said local officials acknowledged in the discussion that they lacked information where the sites of toxic materials could be. “They said: ‘We're uncertain where these sites are. Documentation is missing, we have nothing on it.’”

Public Endorsement

The official statement was also welcomed by Tonia Shalgosky, a school staff member at a elementary institution, whose school-aged girl, her daughter, was found to have leukaemia in the summer.

“I needed to cut my nine-year-old daughter's scalp because her locks was coming out from the drugs she had to use to destroy her cancer. Consequently it’s in everyone's benefit, it’s in her daughter's welfare [for the council] to disclose that data,” she explained.

“Numerous individuals in the community that have been confirmed to have youth disease and It seems it’s too much to ignore – it demands examination. This isn't typical.”

Family Experiences

Meg Lyons, 31, who works in sales and now has moved away, said families deserved “full transparency and openness” from the government.

Her family member, her sister, passed away on in recent years after being found to have a uncommon malignancy at the age of nine. Her sister, who collected money for cancer charities, was “exceptionally charming, funniest and kindest” individuals, Lyons recalled.

Her mother recalls the effect of the shutdown of the industrial facility on the community, Lyons said. “She said you could not position your fingers in ahead of you because [of] the colored dust.”

“This situation has persisted since I was approximately about early childhood. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is negligence toward the local residents.”

Historical Connections

A relative, a local resident, was among numerous families connected to the legal case against the then Corby council after her newborn was born with a foot condition. Her spouse, Derek, was one of the vehicle operators participating in transporting materials from the manufacturing facility. Their story was portrayed in a television program, and illustrated the mother cleaning the particles from her partner's pants.

Alison said the collective has been reached out to by whistleblowers who were responsible for the disposal of materials in the community.