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A concerned parent and Fraser's father faced devastating diagnosis in 2018 when their toddler Fraser was confirmed to have a unusual variant of leukaemia.

24 months of gruelling treatment ensued, involving drug treatments, targeted radiation, and immunotherapy before a cellular therapy. Their son, at three years old, made a extraordinary turnaround from the operation, with physicians confirming the disease in recovery.

During this period that Gaffney, 36, began investigating answers. She could not stop thinking about comments made by hospital staff at the time of her son’s diagnosis. “We lose sleep wondering how our son got his disease,” a doctor had told her.

“We're constantly wondering wondering how our son got his disease,” a consultant had told her.

Past Events

The improper handling of enormous amounts of toxic materials after the closure of a major industrial facility in Corby in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said Alison. A court ruling associated the council’s negligent clean-up of the site to a cluster of birth defects in town residents during the 1980s and 1990s.

Over time, the concerned mother started to associate the case to her own. “[Fraser’s cancer] is not hereditary,” she explained. “So what are the reasons? … It has to be down to the town. All these kids [with] cancer.

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

Community Action

Gaffney and Hinde started to contact additional households in the town with similar stories – featuring some of Alison's former classmates at Brooke Weston Academy – and the collective began compiling detailed records on those affected. They now spearhead a campaign representing about 130 families with situations of childhood cancer dating back to 1988.

The organization has been pressuring the municipal government to examine any relationships between occurrences of childhood cancer in the town and the closure of the industrial site. In the coming weeks, public health officials are expected to release their study of whether the community has had a disproportionate number of occurrences of pediatric illness for its inhabitants of 70,000.

“Our only goal is to work to secure subsequent residents so they won't experience the hardship that we’ve been through,” said Gaffney.

Historical Context

The ruling in the court proceeding recognized that, between 1983 and 1997, enormous amounts of hazardous waste from the manufacturing site were relocated “regularly” from the southern part of town to Deene Quarry in the opposite end – with “significant amounts” of toxic waste moved and dumped on local thoroughfares and “substantial quantities” of airborne particles generated by the remediation.

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

Expanding Concerns

Gaffney believes toxic substances was not merely deposited at the primary location but in other parts of the town. In recent developments, she welcomed a “important advancement” after local authorities said it would test soil that could be polluted and research where toxic waste was disposed of.

Gaffney said local officials confirmed in the meeting that they were unaware where the locations of contaminated waste could be. “They said: ‘We're uncertain where these sites are. Documentation is missing, we possess no information.’”

Local Backing

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

“I needed to cut my little girl's scalp because her locks was coming out from the medications she had to use to eliminate her illness. So actually it’s in our interest, it’s in Bella’s interest [for the council] to disclose that information,” she said.

“There are so many individuals in the community that have been confirmed to have pediatric illness and It seems it’s too much to ignore – it needs looking at. This isn't typical.”

Individual Accounts

A community member, in her early thirties, who is employed in business and now lives in London, said parents merited “absolute honesty and openness” from the government.

Her family member, her sister, passed away on a specific date after being confirmed to have a uncommon malignancy at the childhood. Her sister, who raised awareness for medical research, was “one of the most adorable, entertaining and kindest” individuals, she said.

Her mother recollects the consequence of the cessation of the manufacturing site on the community, she said. “She said you could not position your palm in before you because [of] the particulate matter.”

“This situation has persisted since I’ve probably been about my youth. It's too long and it is carelessness toward the people of Corby.”

Previous Involvement

Another family member, a local resident, was part of multiple households connected to the legal case against the former government after her baby was born with clubfoot. Her spouse, her partner, was among the truck operators responsible for removing waste from the manufacturing facility. Their story was shown in a media production, and illustrated the woman cleaning the debris from her partner's pants.

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