🔗 Share this article

Alison Gaffney and Fraser's father were given life-altering information in 2018 when their young son their baby was diagnosed with a rare type of leukaemia.

Two years of demanding therapies followed, comprising chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immune system treatments before a bone marrow procedure. Fraser, by age three, made a extraordinary turnaround from the procedure, with doctors announcing the disease in recovery.

It was at this point that Gaffney, 36, began seeking explanations. She remained troubled by observations made by hospital staff at the time of her son’s diagnosis. “We lose sleep wondering how our son got his illness,” a specialist had informed her.

“We're constantly wondering wondering how he got his disease,” a doctor had informed her.

Past Events

The negligent management of enormous amounts of hazardous substances after the closure of a major industrial facility in Corby in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said the mother. A court ruling connected the local authority's mismanagement of the site to a string of developmental issues in town residents during the twentieth century.

Gradually, the concerned mother started to link the circumstances to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not hereditary,” she stated. “What's the explanation? … It’s got to be down to the area. Numerous young people [with] the disease.

“Everybody in this town knows somebody who’s got a child [with] the disease. That's unusual.”

Collective Efforts

Gaffney and Hinde started to contact additional households in Corby with similar stories – featuring some of Alison's past schoolmates at Brooke Weston Academy – and the group began gathering detailed records on those involved. They now spearhead a campaign advocating for about numerous households with situations of childhood cancer going back to 1988.

The collective has been urging the town council to research any connections between occurrences of childhood cancer in the town and the shutdown of the plant. Soon, medical experts are preparing to share their evaluation of whether the area has had a disproportionate number of cases of pediatric illness for its residents of 70,000.

“What we seek is to try and protect coming generations so they won't experience the suffering that we've endured,” said Gaffney.

Legal Precedents

The judgment in the court proceeding recognized that, between the 1980s and 1990s, enormous amounts of hazardous waste from the steel plant were relocated “typically” from the south of Corby to a designated site in the northern section – with “large quantities” of contaminated substances transported and deposited on community streets and “substantial quantities” of airborne particles created by the cleanup.

Nevertheless, it also cited reports from the Environment Agency in 1997 that found collections of hazardous waste that had been left at this location were later taken away in “large quantities”.

Additional Issues

The campaign leader suspects toxic substances was not only dumped at the Deene Quarry site but in additional areas of the municipality. Lately, she approved a “significant progress” after municipal government said it would examine soil that could be contaminated and research where hazardous materials was dumped.

Alison said council staff admitted in the meeting that they were unaware where the sites of hazardous substances could be. “They explained: ‘We're uncertain where these locations are. We have no documentation, we have nothing on it.’”

Local Backing

The government declaration was also supported by another parent, a pastoral lead at a primary school, whose nine-year-old daughter, Bella, was diagnosed with blood cancer in June this year.

“I needed to cut my nine-year-old daughter's hair because her tresses was falling out from the treatments she had to use to kill her cancer. So actually it’s in our interest, it’s in the child's wellbeing [for the council] to disclose that knowledge,” she said.

“There are so many people in the town that have been found to have youth disease and I believe it’s too much to ignore – it requires investigation. This is unusual.”

Personal Stories

Another resident, aged thirty-one, who works in sales and now has moved away, said households merited “absolute honesty and transparency” from the council.

The woman's 11-year-old sister, her sister, died on a specific date after being found to have a rare bone cancer at the age of nine. The girl, who fundraised for cancer charities, was “one of the most charming, entertaining and compassionate” people, she stated.

Her mother recollects the impact of the closure of the manufacturing site on the area, she said. “She mentioned you were unable to place your hand in front of your face because [of] the colored dust.”

“These issues have continued since I’ve probably been about three years old. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is carelessness toward the community members.”

Past Associations

Lyons’s cousin, a community member, was part of multiple parents involved in the court proceeding against the then Corby council after her baby was born with clubfoot. Her partner, her partner, was among the lorry drivers involved in transporting materials from the steelworks. Their situation was depicted in a media production, and demonstrated the mother cleaning the dust from her partner's pants.

Gaffney said the campaign group has been reached out to by whistleblowers who were participating in the placement of materials in the town.