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Alison Gaffney and Andy Hinde were given devastating news in 2018 when their young son Fraser was confirmed to have a rare type of childhood cancer.

24 months of intensive medical care followed, comprising cancer medications, targeted radiation, and immune system treatments before a cellular therapy. Their son, by age three, made a extraordinary turnaround from the surgery, with doctors declaring the disease in remission.

As Fraser improved that Gaffney, aged thirty-six, began looking for answers. She remained troubled by comments made by hospital staff at the time of her son’s diagnosis. “We're tormented wondering how he got his disease,” a doctor had informed her.

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

Historical Context

The improper handling of millions of tonnes of toxic materials after the closure of the town's primary employer in this community in 1979 had “long been recognized,” said the mother. A legal proceeding associated the improper remediation efforts of the site to a series of developmental issues in town residents during the 1980s and 1990s.

Gradually, the concerned mother started to link the circumstances to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not genetic,” she explained. “What's the explanation? … It’s got to be down to the community. So many children [with] cancer.

“Every resident is acquainted with a person who’s got a minor [with] the disease. That’s not normal.”

Grassroots Movement

Gaffney and Hinde started to reach out to more parents in the town with similar stories – including some of Gaffney’s former classmates at a local school – and the organization began compiling thorough information on those affected. They now head a movement supporting about many parents with situations of childhood cancer dating back to 1988.

The collective has been calling on the town council to investigate any links between occurrences of youth disease in the town and the shutdown of the industrial site. Soon, medical experts are set to publish their study of whether the community has had a unusually high rate of instances of childhood cancer for its inhabitants of seventy thousand.

“Our only goal is to try and protect subsequent residents so they won't experience the hardship that we've endured,” said Alison.

Historical Context

The ruling in the 2009 civil claim acknowledged that, between a fourteen-year period, millions of tonnes of contaminated materials from the manufacturing site were transported “typically” from the southern part of town to Deene Quarry in the opposite end – with “substantial volumes” of contaminated substances carried and deposited on public roads and “large volumes” of dust generated by the remediation.

However, it also referenced reports from the environmental authorities in 1997 that discovered collections of toxic substances that had been deposited at this location were later removed in “substantial volumes”.

Expanding Concerns

The campaign leader believes toxic substances was not only dumped at the primary location but in different locations of the town. In recent developments, she approved a “important advancement” after municipal government said it would analyze ground that could be tainted and investigate where toxic waste was dumped.

The mother said government representatives admitted in the conference that they lacked information where the areas of hazardous substances could be. “They stated: ‘We don’t know where these locations are. We have no documentation, we have nothing on it.’”

Public Endorsement

The official statement was also embraced by a community member, a school staff member at a primary school, whose nine-year-old daughter, Bella, was found to have blood cancer in June this year.

“I was forced to trim my little girl's scalp because her tresses was shedding from the medications she had to take to destroy her illness. Therefore it’s in our interest, it’s in the child's wellbeing [for the council] to share that data,” she stated.

“Countless residents in the area that have been confirmed to have childhood cancer and I just feel it’s cannot be dismissed – it needs looking at. This isn't typical.”

Family Experiences

Meg Lyons, aged thirty-one, who has a professional career and now resides elsewhere, said parents earned “full transparency and transparency” from the government.

Lyons’s young sibling, the girl, succumbed on in recent years after being found to have a specific illness at the young age. Eve, who fundraised for health organizations, was “among the lovable, entertaining and kindest” persons, Lyons stated.

Her parent recalls the consequence of the shutdown of the steel plant on the area, Lyons said. “She recalled you couldn’t put your palm in front of your face because [of] the colored dust.”

“This situation has persisted since around about my youth. It's too long and it is carelessness toward the community members.”

Previous Involvement

A relative, Maggie Mahon, was part of multiple families connected to the 2009 claim against the previous administration after her infant was had clubfoot. Her spouse, her partner, was one of the truck operators participating in transporting materials from the industrial site. Their situation was shown in a television program, and demonstrated the mother removing the debris from her husband’s jeans.

Alison said the organization has been contacted by informants who were involved in the dumping of materials in the town.