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A local mother and Fraser's father received life-altering diagnosis in 2018 when their young son their baby was found to have a rare type of childhood cancer.

Two years of gruelling treatment followed, including cancer medications, targeted radiation, and immune system treatments before a bone marrow procedure. Fraser, then aged three, made a “miraculous recovery” from the procedure, with medical staff confirming the illness in remission.

During this period that the mother, 36, began investigating causes. She remained troubled by observations made by medical professionals at the time of her son’s diagnosis. “We're tormented wondering how our son got his illness,” a consultant had informed her.

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

Past Events

The botched disposal of enormous amounts of toxic materials after the closure of a major industrial facility in this community in 1979 had “always been a known thing,” said the mother. A legal proceeding connected the council’s negligent clean-up of the site to a string of developmental issues in local children during the previous decades.

Over time, the concerned mother started to connect the situation to her own. “[His illness] is not inherited,” she said. “What could cause this? … It’s got to be down to the area. Numerous young people [with] illness.

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

Grassroots Movement

The parents started to contact other families in the town with similar stories – featuring some of Alison's past schoolmates at Brooke Weston Academy – and the collective began compiling detailed records on those impacted. They now head a initiative advocating for about many parents with cases of childhood cancer dating back to 1988.

The collective has been urging the municipal government to investigate any relationships between occurrences of youth disease in Corby and the closure of the industrial site. At the end of this month, medical experts are preparing to share their study of whether the area has had a unusually high rate of instances of youth disease for its population of 70,000.

“Our only goal is to try and protect future people so they won't experience the pain that we’ve been through,” said the mother.

Historical Context

The ruling in the 2009 civil claim acknowledged that, between the 1980s and 1990s, vast quantities of contaminated materials from the industrial facility were relocated “regularly” from the southern part of town to a designated site in the northern section – with “substantial volumes” of hazardous materials carried and dumped on local thoroughfares and “substantial quantities” of dust generated by the reclamation.

However, it also mentioned reports from the regulatory body in 1997 that identified stockpiles of hazardous waste that had been left at this location were later taken away in “substantial volumes”.

Additional Issues

The campaign leader suspects contaminated materials was not merely deposited at the Deene Quarry site but in additional areas of the community. In recent developments, 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 deposited.

Alison said council staff confirmed in the discussion that they did not know where the areas of contaminated waste could be. “They explained: ‘We don’t know where these locations are. We have no documentation, we possess no information.’”

Local Backing

The official statement was also welcomed by a community member, a school staff member at a primary school, whose young child, Bella, was diagnosed with blood cancer in June this year.

“I had to shave my young child's hair because her locks was falling out from the treatments she had to take to kill her cancer. So actually it’s in everyone's benefit, it’s in Bella’s interest [for the council] to share that data,” she explained.

“There are so many residents in the community that have been confirmed to have youth disease and I believe it’s too much to ignore – it demands examination. This isn't typical.”

Personal Stories

Another resident, in her early thirties, who has a professional career and now lives in London, said households earned “absolute honesty and openness” from the council.

The woman's 11-year-old sister, Eve, succumbed on in recent years after being confirmed to have a specific illness at the age of nine. Her sister, who collected money for medical research, was “exceptionally adorable, funniest and caring” persons, she recalled.

Her mother remembers the impact of the shutdown of the steel plant on the area, the woman explained. “She recalled you could not position your palm in ahead of you because [of] the red ash.”

“These issues have continued since I was approximately about my youth. This duration is unreasonable and it is irresponsibility toward the people of Corby.”

Previous Involvement

A relative, a community member, was one of several families participating in the legal case against the then Corby council after her infant was had a congenital issue. Her husband, her partner, was one of the truck operators responsible for removing waste from the steelworks. Their story was shown in a recent series, and demonstrated Maggie cleaning the debris from her partner's pants.

Alison said the collective has been contacted by individuals with information who were responsible for the placement of waste in the community.