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Alison Gaffney and Fraser's father were given life-altering information in 2018 when their toddler their child was confirmed to have a rare type of blood cancer.

Two years of gruelling treatment came next, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and biological therapies before a bone marrow procedure. Their son, then aged three, made a extraordinary turnaround from the surgery, with doctors declaring the illness in regression.

During this period that Alison, 36, began seeking explanations. She could not stop thinking about remarks made by hospital staff at the time of her Fraser's condition. “We lose sleep wondering how he got his cancer,” a consultant had shared with her.

“We can't sleep wondering how he got his cancer,” a consultant had shared with her.

Historical Context

The negligent management of vast quantities of toxic materials after the shutdown of Europe’s largest steelworks in Corby in 1979 had “long been recognized,” said the mother. A court ruling linked the local authority's mismanagement of the site to a string of birth defects in local children during the twentieth century.

Over time, the concerned mother started to connect the situation to her own. “[The disease] is not genetic,” she stated. “What's the explanation? … It must be down to the town. Numerous young people [with] illness.

“Everybody in this town knows someone who’s got a child [with] illness. That’s not normal.”

Community Action

Alison and Andy started to reach out to additional households in their community with similar stories – including some of Alison's past schoolmates at Brooke Weston Academy – and the group began gathering thorough information on those affected. They now head a movement supporting about many parents with instances of youth disease dating back to 1988.

The organization has been calling on the town council to investigate any relationships between occurrences of youth disease in Corby and the closure of the plant. At the end of this month, public health officials are expected to release their evaluation of whether the area has had a disproportionate number of cases of pediatric illness for its inhabitants of 70,000.

“Our only goal is to try and protect future people so they can avoid the pain that we've endured,” said Alison.

Previous Cases

The judgment in the 2009 civil claim accepted that, between a fourteen-year period, millions of tonnes of contaminated materials from the steel plant were relocated “typically” from the one area to a specific location in the opposite end – with “substantial volumes” of toxic waste transported and dropped on local thoroughfares and “large volumes” of particulate matter produced by the remediation.

Nonetheless, it also cited findings from the Environment Agency in 1997 that found stockpiles of contaminated material that had been deposited at the site were later removed in “significant amounts”.

Additional Issues

Alison believes waste was not only dumped at the Deene Quarry site but in other parts of the municipality. In recent developments, she applauded a “important advancement” after local authorities said it would examine ground that could be tainted and study where contaminated substances was deposited.

The mother said local officials admitted in the discussion that they lacked information where the sites of hazardous substances could be. “They explained: ‘We lack information where these locations are. Documentation is missing, we possess no information.’”

Public Endorsement

The government declaration was also supported by another parent, a educational worker at a local school, whose nine-year-old daughter, Bella, was diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy in recent months.

“I had to shave my nine-year-old daughter's scalp because her hair was shedding from the treatments she had to take to kill her cancer. Therefore it’s in the community's concern, it’s in Bella’s interest [for the council] to reveal that data,” she explained.

“There are so many individuals in the town that have been confirmed to have childhood cancer and I believe it’s too much to ignore – it demands examination. This isn't typical.”

Family Experiences

Meg Lyons, in her early thirties, who has a professional career and now lives in London, said households deserved “complete and utter truth and transparency” from the government.

The woman's 11-year-old sister, Eve, succumbed on 24 June 2017 after being confirmed to have a uncommon malignancy at the age of nine. Eve, who raised awareness for health organizations, was “one of the most adorable, funniest and compassionate” people, she said.

Her parent remembers the consequence of the cessation of the manufacturing site on the area, Lyons said. “She said you couldn’t put your hand in ahead of you because [of] the red ash.”

“This has been going on since around about early childhood. It’s an excessive amount of time and it is negligence toward the people of Corby.”

Previous Involvement

Another family member, a community member, was one of several households participating in the legal case against the then Corby council after her infant was diagnosed with a foot condition. Her partner, her partner, was one of the vehicle operators participating in removing waste from the industrial site. Their experience was shown in a television program, and showed the mother cleaning the dust from her partner's pants.

The campaign leader said the campaign group has been reached out to by informants who were responsible for the dumping of materials in the community.