A town of bc survivors??

[Lisa]

Friends,

Need your input. On my Lafayette cul-de-sac of 13 houses, 4 current residents have had bc while living here. Definitely not the norm.

Then yesterday at chemo in Boulder, I was talking with the lady sitting next to me. She said she had a great support group at her church, since most of the women there had had BC. I grinningly asked, "You don't live in Lafayette, do you?" Her reply, a sober, "Yes."

O.k., so what's the deal. Were we all brought together for support?
Is it the coal mines this town is built over? Are there some angry Indian spirits here since the U.S. took back this land after a major agreement was signed in the 1850s? (There have been several sightings/angry houses on our street that were cleansed by Christians, Buddhists and with sage.)

Do any of you have similar situations? I callled the State Health Dept. 5 years ago to tell them about my street. They admitted the numbers were high, but they couldn't analyze just a neighborhood. Well, I'm going to start a neighborhood survey, and check the old coal mine maps and see for myself if there's a pattern.

Any input would be welcome.

Love and light,

Lisa

[*_Penny_*]

Lisa,
It's interesting you mention this because I've been wondering the same thing. Does it seem like there's more cancer than there used to be or are we just paying attention more now because it's in OUR lives? We have ALOT of cancer in our area. I live in Sunbury, PA and in 1979(?) at Three Mile Island in Harrisburg (about 50 miles from us) there was a nuclear accident. They told everyone that it was nothing and not to worry but things have been reported that it was alot more serious than they told us. One of my mom's nurses said enough time has passed that cancer would show up now if it was due to the radiation. My mom was diagnosed in 1981 so I doubt hers would be from that. But, we also live near a big coal region. We have a town near us called Centralia that was almost completely evacuated years ago. There are underground mine fires burning constantly. You can see the smoke. Some residents, maybe 10, refused to leave and they still live there. And the town still burns. I wonder what damage that is doing to us? I never put together a connection between the coal mines and cancer. You might have something here.

Love, Penny

[Kristen]

Hi Lisa,
In my old neighborhood, in one cul de sac and a few houses on the main street, so about 13 houses. 4 cancers. 2 lung, 1 breast, and a baby with neuroblastoma, No coal mines here in Ks. that I know of.
They are doing that sister study and they are looking into inviromental issues. Might want to contact them and see if they have any background or something they are looking for specically. Let us know what you find out. Take Care k

[*_Patty D_*]

This interesting Lisa- I live in Minnesota- in a suburb of St Paul and have not heard of any one area anywhere in our state where there are a large number of cancer pts. We have ore and taconite mines and plants in the north part of the state but I have never heard of health problems related to that. There may very well be some corralation in your case and others.
It is a scary thing- There has long been questions about enviromental issues being cause for cancers so it is worth doing some reasearch! Good luck and keep us posted> God Bless- PattyD

[*_Kathie in New Jersey_*]

My neighborhood has several BC patients and our homes were built on apple orchards. So for hundreds of years chemicals were sprayed on this land. Often thought that it could be the culprit for all the cancer patients. Lets face it we are killing ourselves with giving our beef,chickens, pigs growth hormones, antibiotics ect. This is our food chain and we are loading it up with chemicals and then eating it.


Kathie

[carol]

I sometimes wonder about those gas tanks across the street from where I grew up in Queens, NY (which is close to Long Island which has a lot of BC). Luckily I moved out to the country a year ago. I just hope that I am far away enough from Los Angeles. My breast surgeon in NYC really thinks that BC is an environmental disease. Hugs, Carol

[SusanAnne]

Hi everyone. Speaking of Long Island, that's where I live. At the support group I attend, we are in the process of trying to get a mapping done of cancers on the Island. We have noticed a large number of us live on dead end streets (cul-de-sacs qualify), near gas stations whose tanks have leaked into the ground, and then we have the Shoreham nuclear power plant to the east.

My sister is in the Sister Study. She moved off the Island about 25 years ago. I encourage everyone who has a sister (with no cancer) to inform them that they could help us all out by joining (Sisterstudy.com) Thanks.

Susan

[Sheila]

Lisa
I also wonder...I live in a new subdivision of 22 homes, have lived here since 1998, and during that time 5 people have developed cancer and 3 dogs have developed cancer....seems ironic for such a small area, but then they call our county the cancer capitol of Illinois....I wonder if it is all the chemicals in the ground that used to be farmland, or is it the 3 nuclear plants that are within 25 miles of me in 3 directions...that to me would be the most likely, yet my husband has worked at one for 20 years and he is healthy....I lean more toward chemicals in the soil and the water supply.
Hugs
Sheila

[StephN]

GREAT question - and just look at the cancer clusters coming to light in so many neighborhoods.
Here is another, but it is not related to where I have lived since 1986 (same house in suburbs built on what was a pasture behind another house on the road).

I grew up in eastern Washington - my parents built a nice brick house on a deadend street up a hill overlooking the Columbia River. This hill had been full of orchards and then was carved into four short dead ends going up and we lived on the top one with 10 other houses. From my street and the next one down, I know of 7 women who got breast cancer later in life.

A doctor and his family lived across the street. Three of the 5 daughters have gotten breast cancer as well as the mother. The middle sister lives in Seattle and was tested for the BRCA gene - NEG! Then two other of my contemporaries on the next street down (lived next door to each other) - one of whom passed away 2 years ago.

Count me- that makes 8 so far. We had 5 peach trees left on the property after the house was built and I loved nothing more than those peaches - I was 7 (and the oldest) when we moved in.

I know about all this as we have had two All-Class Reunions out at the Fairgrounds that all my family has attended. But, the breast cancer or even cancer in general incidence is very LOW in my graduating class as a whole.

[susie]

Get this...I was married for 12 years, had several children, then divorced. I got bc 7 years later after I was remarried for 5 years. I first got bc in 1996. Then my 1st husband's new wife got bc! In summer of 2003. Hmmm...what to make of that? I started getting suspicious of the well water, some are suspicious of the man ---not that he did anything, but he can be difficult to live with. But the whole thing is ironic.