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Alison Gaffney and her partner faced devastating diagnosis in 2018 when their toddler their child was confirmed to have a unusual variant of leukaemia.

An extended period of gruelling treatment followed, including drug treatments, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy before a stem cell transplant. The young boy, at three years old, made a remarkable improvement from the surgery, with physicians confirming the illness in recovery.

It was at this point that the mother, aged thirty-six, began seeking explanations. She remained troubled by remarks made by healthcare workers at the time of her son’s diagnosis. “We lose sleep wondering how Fraser got his disease,” a specialist had informed her.

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

Past Events

The improper handling of vast quantities of contaminated waste after the cessation of a major industrial facility in this community in 1979 had “widely acknowledged,” said Alison. A court ruling connected the local authority's mismanagement of the site to a series of birth defects in town residents during the previous decades.

Over time, Gaffney started to associate the situation to her own. “[The disease] is not genetic,” she explained. “So what are the reasons? … It must be down to the town. So many children [with] cancer.

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

Community Action

Alison and Andy started to connect with more parents in Corby with parallel situations – including some of Alison's former classmates at a local school – and the collective began gathering comprehensive documentation on those impacted. They now spearhead a campaign advocating for about 130 families with situations of childhood cancer dating back to 1988.

The collective has been pressuring the municipal government to research any connections between cases of youth disease in Corby and the closure of the industrial site. In the coming weeks, health authorities are set to publish their analysis of whether the area has had a elevated incidence of cases of pediatric illness for its inhabitants of 70,000.

“All we want is to try and protect subsequent residents so they can avoid the pain that we’ve been through,” said Alison.

Historical Context

The decision in the court proceeding recognized that, between a fourteen-year period, millions of tonnes of hazardous waste from the manufacturing site were transported “almost invariably” from the southern part of town to a specific location in the opposite end – with “significant amounts” of toxic waste carried and deposited on public roads and “large volumes” of particulate matter generated by the remediation.

Nonetheless, it also cited reports from the Environment Agency in 1997 that discovered stockpiles of contaminated material that had been abandoned at the site were later extracted in “significant amounts”.

Expanding Concerns

The campaign leader suspects contaminated materials was not exclusively placed at the primary location but in additional areas of the municipality. Recently, she applauded a “major step forward” after municipal government said it would test soil that could be polluted and investigate where hazardous materials was deposited.

Gaffney said government representatives confirmed in the conference that they lacked information where the locations of contaminated waste could be. “They stated: ‘We don’t know where these areas are. Documentation is missing, we possess no information.’”

Local Backing

The council’s announcement was also embraced by a community member, a pastoral lead at a elementary institution, whose nine-year-old daughter, the child, was found to have a hematologic malignancy in June this year.

“I had to shave my little girl's head because her hair was coming out from the drugs she had to use to kill her illness. So actually it’s in our interest, it’s in her daughter's welfare [for the council] to disclose that data,” she said.

“There are so many individuals in the town that have been diagnosed with youth disease and I believe it’s impossible to overlook – it needs looking at. This is unusual.”

Individual Accounts

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

Lyons’s young sibling, the girl, died on in recent years after being diagnosed with a rare bone cancer at the age of nine. The girl, who fundraised for medical research, was “exceptionally lovable, funniest and kindest” individuals, the sister said.

Her family member remembers the effect of the cessation of the steel plant on the area, she explained. “She said you were unable to place your fingers in before you because [of] the particulate matter.”

“This has been going on since I was approximately about my youth. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is carelessness toward the local residents.”

Previous Involvement

Lyons’s cousin, a community member, was part of multiple households participating in the legal case against the then Corby council after her infant was had a foot condition. Her partner, Derek, was among the truck operators participating in transporting materials from the industrial site. Their experience was depicted in a media production, and showed the mother removing the particles from her partner's pants.

The campaign leader said the campaign group has been contacted by informants who were responsible for the placement of materials in the town.