🔗 Share this article

A concerned parent and her partner were given devastating news in 2018 when their young son Fraser was diagnosed with a rare type of childhood cancer.

An extended period of intensive medical care followed, comprising chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy before a bone marrow procedure. Fraser, at three years old, made a “miraculous recovery” from the surgery, with medical staff declaring the disease in recovery.

It was at this point that the mother, in her mid-thirties, began seeking explanations. She remained troubled by remarks made by medical professionals at the time of her Fraser's condition. “It keeps us up at night wondering how our son got his cancer,” a doctor had shared with her.

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

Historical Context

The improper handling of vast quantities of toxic materials after the cessation of a major industrial facility in the town in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said Gaffney. A court ruling associated the improper remediation efforts of the site to a series of birth defects in local children during the 1980s and 1990s.

Gradually, Alison started to link the situation to her own. “[The disease] is not inherited,” she stated. “So what are the reasons? … It must be down to the community. All these kids [with] the disease.

“Everybody in this town is acquainted with a person who’s got a minor [with] cancer. That's unusual.”

Community Action

Gaffney and Hinde started to reach out to additional households in their community with similar stories – featuring some of Alison's ex-school friends at their former educational institution – and the collective began gathering detailed records on those impacted. They now head a campaign representing about many parents with cases of childhood cancer going back to 1988.

The group has been calling on the town council to research any relationships between instances of childhood cancer in this community and the decommissioning of the facility. Soon, medical experts are preparing to share their evaluation of whether the town has had a elevated incidence of occurrences of pediatric illness for its inhabitants of the local community.

“What we seek is to try and protect coming generations so they can avoid the hardship that we’ve been through,” said Gaffney.

Legal Precedents

The ruling in the legal case accepted that, between 1983 and 1997, vast quantities of toxic substances from the steel plant were relocated “typically” from the southern part of town to Deene Quarry in the northern section – with “substantial volumes” of toxic waste transported and deposited on local thoroughfares and “considerable amounts” of particulate matter created by the reclamation.

Nonetheless, it also cited findings from the environmental authorities in 1997 that identified accumulations of contaminated material that had been left at Deene Quarry were later taken away in “substantial volumes”.

Expanding Concerns

The campaign leader suspects contaminated materials was not only dumped at the Deene Quarry site but in additional areas of the municipality. Recently, she approved a “major step forward” after North Northamptonshire council said it would examine ground that could be contaminated and investigate where toxic waste was dumped.

Alison said local officials admitted in the meeting that they lacked information where the locations of contaminated waste could be. “They stated: ‘We're uncertain where these locations are. Documentation is missing, we have nothing on it.’”

Local Backing

The council’s announcement was also supported by another parent, a educational worker at a local school, whose nine-year-old daughter, her daughter, was found to have a hematologic malignancy in recent months.

“I needed to cut my young child's hair because her locks was coming out from the treatments she had to take to kill her illness. Therefore it’s in the community's concern, it’s in the child's wellbeing [for the council] to reveal that data,” she stated.

“There are so many residents in the area that have been diagnosed with pediatric illness and I believe it’s impossible to overlook – it requires investigation. This is unusual.”

Individual Accounts

Meg Lyons, in her early thirties, who has a professional career and now lives in London, said families deserved “absolute honesty and transparency” from the local authority.

The woman's family member, her sister, passed away on a specific date after being confirmed to have a specific illness at the childhood. The girl, who raised awareness for cancer charities, was “one of the most lovable, entertaining and caring” persons, the sister stated.

Her parent remembers the effect of the cessation of the steel plant on the community, she said. “She said you couldn’t put your hand in front of your face because [of] the red ash.”

“These issues have continued since I was approximately about three years old. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is carelessness toward the local residents.”

Past Associations

Another family member, a local resident, was one of several families participating in the legal case against the previous administration after her newborn was diagnosed with clubfoot. Her husband, Derek, was among the lorry drivers involved in handling substances from the steelworks. Their story was depicted in a media production, and showed the woman removing the debris from her partner's pants.

Gaffney said the campaign group has been reached out to by individuals with information who were involved in the placement of substances in the community.