Local Residents Searching for Clarity Regarding Contaminated Materials Areas

A concerned parent and Fraser's father received heartbreaking diagnosis in 2018 when their young son their child was found to have a rare type of leukaemia.

24 months of gruelling treatment followed, comprising cancer medications, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy before a stem cell transplant. The young boy, at three years old, made a remarkable improvement from the surgery, with medical staff confirming the cancer in regression.

During this period that the mother, aged thirty-six, began seeking explanations. She remained troubled by comments made by healthcare workers at the time of her child's illness. “We lose sleep wondering how our son got his illness,” a consultant had shared with her.

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

Past Events

The improper handling of vast quantities of hazardous substances after the shutdown of Europe’s largest steelworks in this community in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said Gaffney. A court ruling connected the local authority's mismanagement of the site to a cluster of developmental issues in community youth during the previous decades.

Gradually, the concerned mother started to connect the case to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not inherited,” she explained. “So what are the reasons? … It has to be down to the area. All these kids [with] illness.

“Every resident knows somebody who’s got a child [with] illness. That’s not normal.”

Grassroots Movement

Gaffney and Hinde started to contact other families in their community with similar stories – featuring some of Gaffney’s ex-school friends at their former educational institution – and the collective began gathering comprehensive documentation on those impacted. They now lead a campaign representing about 130 families with situations of childhood cancer starting from 1988.

The organization has been calling on the town council to examine any connections between occurrences of pediatric illness in Corby and the shutdown of the industrial site. At the end of this month, health authorities are preparing to share their analysis of whether the community has had a disproportionate number of occurrences of childhood cancer for its residents of the local community.

“Our only goal is to try and protect subsequent residents so they can avoid the hardship that we've experienced,” said the mother.

Previous Cases

The judgment in the 2009 civil claim recognized that, between 1983 and 1997, millions of tonnes of hazardous waste from the industrial facility were relocated “almost invariably” from the one area to a specific location in the north – with “substantial volumes” of toxic waste moved and dumped on local thoroughfares and “substantial quantities” of dust created by the reclamation.

Nevertheless, it also cited findings from the environmental authorities in 1997 that identified stockpiles of contaminated material that had been abandoned at Deene Quarry were later taken away in “large quantities”.

Expanding Concerns

The campaign leader suspects contaminated materials was not exclusively placed at the main disposal area but in different locations of the town. Lately, she welcomed a “important advancement” after municipal government said it would analyze soil that could be contaminated and investigate where hazardous materials was dumped.

Gaffney said local officials confirmed in the meeting that they lacked information where the areas of hazardous substances could be. “They said: ‘We don’t know where these areas are. Documentation is missing, we possess no information.’”

Public Endorsement

The council’s announcement was also embraced by a community member, a pastoral lead at a local school, whose young child, the child, was found to have a hematologic malignancy in recent months.

“I needed to cut my nine-year-old daughter's head because her locks was falling out from the medications she had to administer to eliminate her illness. Therefore it’s in the community's concern, it’s in the child's wellbeing [for the council] to disclose that data,” she explained.

“Numerous people in the town that have been diagnosed with childhood cancer and I believe it’s cannot be dismissed – it demands examination. This isn't typical.”

Individual Accounts

Meg Lyons, 31, who works in sales and now lives in London, said parents merited “absolute honesty and openness” from the local authority.

Lyons’s 11-year-old sister, Eve, died on in recent years after being confirmed to have a specific illness at the age of nine. The girl, who raised awareness for medical research, was “among the charming, funniest and caring” people, Lyons said.

Her family member recollects the impact of the closure of the industrial facility on the town, she said. “She mentioned you were unable to place your palm in ahead of you because [of] the particulate matter.”

“This situation has persisted since around about my youth. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is negligence toward the local residents.”

Historical Connections

Lyons’s cousin, a community member, was among numerous households participating in the 2009 claim against the then Corby council after her newborn was diagnosed with a foot condition. Her partner, her partner, was among the lorry drivers participating in handling substances from the steelworks. Their story was shown in a media production, and illustrated the woman cleaning the dust from her spouse's clothing.

Alison said the collective has been reached out to by informants who were participating in the disposal of materials in the area.