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Alison Gaffney and Fraser's father were given life-altering news in 2018 when their 17-month-old their baby was confirmed to have a unusual variant of childhood cancer.

An extended period of intensive medical care ensued, including drug treatments, radiotherapy, and biological therapies before a stem cell transplant. Fraser, at three years old, made a remarkable improvement from the surgery, with physicians announcing the disease in remission.

It was at this point that the mother, aged thirty-six, began investigating explanations. She could not stop thinking about comments made by medical professionals at the time of her child's illness. “It keeps us up at night wondering how he got his illness,” a specialist had informed her.

“It keeps us up at night wondering how Fraser got his disease,” a doctor had shared with her.

Past Events

The improper handling of millions of tonnes of toxic materials after the cessation of Europe’s largest steelworks in this community in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said Gaffney. A court ruling connected the council’s negligent clean-up of the site to a cluster of birth defects in local children during the previous decades.

Gradually, the concerned mother started to connect the case to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not inherited,” she explained. “What could cause this? … It must be down to the community. All these kids [with] illness.

“Each person here knows somebody who’s got a child [with] the disease. That's unusual.”

Grassroots Movement

Gaffney and Hinde started to reach out to other families in their community with similar stories – including some of Gaffney’s past schoolmates at a local school – and the organization began compiling thorough information on those impacted. They now head a campaign representing about many parents with situations of pediatric illness going back to 1988.

The organization has been calling on the municipal government to research any links between occurrences of pediatric illness in the town and the shutdown of the industrial site. At the end of this month, public health officials are set to publish their evaluation of whether the area has had a elevated incidence of occurrences of childhood cancer for its inhabitants of seventy thousand.

“All we want is to attempt to safeguard future people so they won't experience the hardship that we've endured,” said Gaffney.

Previous Cases

The decision in the court proceeding acknowledged that, between a fourteen-year period, vast quantities of hazardous waste from the industrial facility were moved “almost invariably” from the south of Corby to a designated site in the northern section – with “significant amounts” of toxic waste moved and dumped on local thoroughfares and “considerable amounts” of particulate matter generated by the cleanup.

Nevertheless, it also referenced reports from the environmental authorities in 1997 that found collections of hazardous waste that had been deposited at this location were later taken away in “large quantities”.

Growing Suspicions

Alison maintains contaminated materials was not merely deposited at the Deene Quarry site but in additional areas of the town. In recent developments, she welcomed a “important advancement” after municipal government said it would analyze ground that could be tainted and research where toxic waste was dumped.

Gaffney said local officials confirmed in the conference that they did not know where the areas of hazardous substances could be. “They said: ‘We lack information where these locations are. Documentation is missing, we possess no information.’”

Public Endorsement

The government declaration was also supported by Tonia Shalgosky, a educational worker at a primary school, whose nine-year-old daughter, Bella, was diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy in June this year.

“I had to shave my little girl's hair because her hair was falling out from the drugs she had to take to destroy her cancer. So actually it’s in our interest, it’s in Bella’s interest [for the council] to reveal that data,” she said.

“Countless residents in the town that have been found to have youth disease and I just feel it’s cannot be dismissed – it needs looking at. This is unusual.”

Personal Stories

Another resident, in her early thirties, who has a professional career and now has moved away, said households deserved “absolute honesty and transparency” from the local authority.

Her family member, Eve, passed away on a specific date after being diagnosed with a rare bone cancer at the young age. The girl, who raised awareness for medical research, was “one of the most adorable, humorous and compassionate” people, Lyons recalled.

Her mother recollects the impact of the cessation of the industrial facility on the area, she explained. “She recalled you couldn’t put your palm in before you because [of] the particulate matter.”

“These issues have continued since I’ve probably been about early childhood. This duration is unreasonable and it is carelessness toward the community members.”

Past Associations

Lyons’s cousin, Maggie Mahon, was one of several families connected to the legal case against the then Corby council after her newborn was had a foot condition. Her spouse, Derek, was a member of the vehicle operators participating in transporting materials from the industrial site. Their story was shown in a recent series, and illustrated Maggie cleaning the debris from her spouse's clothing.

Gaffney said the campaign group has been approached by whistleblowers who were involved in the dumping of materials in the town.