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Alison Gaffney and Fraser's father received devastating diagnosis in 2018 when their young son Fraser was found to have a rare type of childhood cancer.

24 months of gruelling treatment came next, including cancer medications, targeted radiation, and immunotherapy before a stem cell transplant. Fraser, then aged three, made a remarkable improvement from the operation, with doctors announcing the cancer in remission.

During this period that the mother, in her mid-thirties, began looking for causes. She constantly recalled comments made by healthcare workers at the time of her son’s diagnosis. “It keeps us up at night wondering how he got his cancer,” a doctor had told her.

“We can't sleep wondering how he got his disease,” a doctor had told her.

Historical Context

The negligent management of enormous amounts of toxic materials after the cessation of a major industrial facility in Corby in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said Alison. A legal proceeding associated the council’s negligent clean-up of the site to a series of birth defects in community youth during the 1980s and 1990s.

Over time, Gaffney started to associate the situation to her own. “[The disease] is not hereditary,” she stated. “What could cause this? … It must be down to the area. So many children [with] the disease.

“Everybody in this town knows someone who’s got a child [with] cancer. That's unusual.”

Grassroots Movement

Gaffney and Hinde started to reach out to more parents in Corby with similar stories – including some of the mother's former classmates at a local school – and the collective began assembling comprehensive documentation on those impacted. They now lead a initiative advocating for about 130 families with situations of childhood cancer starting from 1988.

The organization has been calling on the local authority to examine any relationships between instances of pediatric illness in this community and the shutdown of the industrial site. In the coming weeks, health authorities are preparing to share their evaluation of whether the area has had a elevated incidence of cases of pediatric illness for its population of 70,000.

“All we want is to attempt to safeguard coming generations so they do not have to endure the pain that we’ve been through,” said the mother.

Historical Context

The judgment in the 2009 civil claim accepted that, between 1983 and 1997, vast quantities of toxic substances from the steel plant were relocated “regularly” from the one area to Deene Quarry in the opposite end – with “large quantities” of contaminated substances moved and deposited on public roads and “substantial quantities” of particulate matter created by the reclamation.

Nonetheless, it also cited documents from the environmental authorities in 1997 that identified accumulations of hazardous waste that had been deposited at Deene Quarry were later taken away in “significant amounts”.

Additional Issues

The campaign leader believes contaminated materials was not only dumped at the Deene Quarry site but in additional areas of the municipality. In recent developments, she applauded a “major step forward” after local authorities said it would analyze soil that could be tainted and investigate where hazardous materials was disposed of.

Gaffney said council staff confirmed in the conference that they did not know where the sites of toxic materials could be. “They explained: ‘We're uncertain where these sites are. There are no records, we have nothing on it.’”

Local Backing

The official statement was also welcomed by another parent, a school staff member at a local school, whose school-aged girl, Bella, was diagnosed with leukaemia in recent months.

“I had to shave my little girl's head because her tresses was falling out from the treatments she had to take to kill her disease. So actually it’s in everyone's benefit, it’s in her daughter's welfare [for the council] to reveal that data,” she stated.

“Countless people in the community that have been diagnosed with pediatric illness and I just feel it’s impossible to overlook – it requires investigation. This can’t be normal.”

Personal Stories

A community member, 31, who has a professional career and now lives in London, said families merited “full transparency and transparency” from the council.

Lyons’s family member, the girl, passed away on 24 June 2017 after being diagnosed with a specific illness at the childhood. Eve, who collected money for health organizations, was “one of the most charming, funniest and compassionate” persons, the sister said.

Her mother recalls the consequence of the shutdown of the industrial facility on the area, the woman stated. “She said you could not position your hand in front of your face because [of] the particulate matter.”

“These issues have continued since around about my youth. It's too long and it is carelessness toward the community members.”

Previous Involvement

Another family member, Maggie Mahon, was part of multiple households involved in the legal case against the former government after her baby was diagnosed with clubfoot. Her partner, her partner, was one of the vehicle operators involved in removing waste from the manufacturing facility. Their story was portrayed in a television program, and showed Maggie removing the particles from her husband’s jeans.

Gaffney said the organization has been contacted by individuals with information who were responsible for the dumping of waste in the area.