Town's mystery: 15 kids with leukemia

[Guest guest]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20020421-9999_1n21cluster.html

Town's mystery: 15 kids with leukemia

By Steve Schmidt

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

April 21, 2002

FALLON, Nev. - Drive around here on a spring morning and everything seems so

normal. Small-town, corn-fed, middle-America normal. The Wal-Mart is packed.

Farmers fill the local greasy spoon. The mayor's wife drives a Suburban.

But Fallon remains on the wicked side of fortune.

In a deepening mystery that continues to vex medical experts, 15 children in

this Navy and farming town have been diagnosed with leukemia in recent

years.

Two have died.

The most recent diagnosis was confirmed on Christmas Eve, adding to the

community's frustration and pain.

" Times like those take you pretty low, " says the mayor, Ken Tedford.

Since the cancer cluster was identified in 2000, federal and Nevada health

authorities have scoured the rural area - checking the water, measuring the

air, examining fuel lines and anything else they could think of to find a

cause.

They're still looking.

" This is a difficult case, " says state epidemiologist Randall Todd. " It's a

case that's gotten under all of our skins. "

As folks here pine for answers, the community with the Anytown quality has

taken on a sober edge.

The mayor doesn't just go to ribbon-cuttings and Rotary Club lunches. He's

delivered dolls and blankets to some of the sick children.

Many locals no longer take their world on blind faith. Some drink only

bottled water now, despite a lack of evidence linking leukemia to the water

supply.

And in some homes, the days are measured by chemotherapy treatments.

'Breaking my heart'

Six-year-old Zachary Beardsley was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia

more than a year ago, after he fell ill on Halloween and stayed that way.

Diseased white blood cells swamped his body, crowding out healthy cells and

making him highly susceptible to infection.

" When you see your little child, you never, ever consider that a disease

like this would come into your house, " says his mother, Tammi Beardsley. But

when it did, she says, " it not only shocked us, it shocked the whole

community. "

And how is Zachary?

The little boy would rather not talk about his illness, but he raises his

shirt.

A catheter pokes out of his chest. It works like a straw, siphoning

anti-cancer chemicals into his 50-pound body. The side effects, however, can

be brutal. Some of the chemicals make him weak and make him vomit.

This seems to pain his parents as much as Zachary.

" He's responding well to the treatment, but it's the treatment that's

breaking my heart, " his mother says.

Four out of five children who get leukemia survive. Two people among the

Churchill County cluster, including an 11-year-old boy and a teen-age girl,

have died.

" We intend to win, to beat this, " says Beardsley. " There can be no other

alternative. "

Tammi and Bob Beardsley bought a house in Fallon in 1995. He's an airline

pilot. She's a native of Fallon and teaches exercise classes. Zachary's

brother, 9-year-old Jordan, is healthy.

Tammi Beardsley feels a fierce responsibility to her family and community to

help resolve the crisis and wonders if an unknown virus may have caused the

rash of leukemia.

Cause elusive

Eleven agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, have been investigating the cluster.

Health authorities are focusing on three possibilities: environmental

contaminants, infectious agents and random chance.

Many locals blame it on something in the environment, possibly in the air or

water. But a battery of top-flight scientists has found no clear culprits.

Among the investigative dead ends:

Arsenic. Fallon's water supply contains relatively high levels of arsenic,

but the element has never been linked to leukemia. Besides, Nevada

authorities note, it has been in the water system nearly 60 years.

Last week, Nevada officials requested $700,000 from the federal government

to complete a study of water wells in the region.

Nuclear fallout. Fallon is 60 miles east of Reno and 28 miles from the site

of a 1963 nuclear bomb test. Federal officials say radiation from the blast

hasn't migrated to Fallon. The ground water below the test site doesn't

connect with Fallon's water supply.

Navy jet fuel. Two ingredients of jet fuel - kerosene and benzene - are

known to trigger leukemia.

However, authorities say fuel pipelines tied to Naval Air Station Fallon

have been repeatedly checked and no leaks have been found.

The 8,200-acre military base has been around for decades. The Navy's

renowned Top Gun fighter pilot school relocated to NAS Fallon from San Diego

in 1996.

The base has more than 1,000 enlistees, some with young children. Navy

spokesman Lane claims the leukemia cluster hasn't triggered a mass

exodus. He says, however, that a small number of Navy families choose to

live outside Fallon, partly due to concern over the illness.

Two of the 15 children diagnosed with leukemia are from Navy families.

Adding to the mystery, scientists note many of the Fallon area families hit

by leukemia have little in common. Some of the children drank tap water,

some didn't. Some were born in the area, some weren't. About half are boys.

Federal authorities are tracking nearly 60 families in Fallon to further

investigate the issue, looking at possible biological and environmental

causes.

Results are expected in a few months.

Cancer worries also run high in San Diego County's Valley Center. Since

1997, 17 children have been diagnosed with brain tumors, leukemia or other

cancers in the North County community.

Health authorities haven't determined whether the cases are directly linked,

noting that confirmed clusters usually don't involve different types of

cancer.

Bearing insurance

In Fallon, the cluster has spooked some families. A few have left town.

But Mayor Tedford and other locals note the Churchill County housing market

remains stable and there is no statistical evidence of a widespread exit.

" Fallon is a nice community, " says longtime resident Kari Owens. " You feel

safe here. "

Still, she's not taking chances. Owens and her family have switched to

drinking bottled water. She has two kids - 6-year-old Tommy and 4-year-old

Tierra.

" It's a bit frightening, " she admits. " It would be much easier if we knew

what was causing (the cluster). Then we could do something about it. "

Fallon may never get its wish. Hundreds of cancer clusters have been

investigated nationwide in recent decades. The exact cause of nearly all

remain a mystery.

" It may take a long time, and when we get to the end of that long time we

may still not know the answer, " says state epidemiologist Randall Todd.

About 8,300 people live in Fallon. Health experts say a town that size would

typically have only one case of leukemia every five years.

The mayor tries to stay upbeat but says dealing with the health scare is

draining.

" After almost two years of this, you get tired of living the whole thing, "

he says.

Fallon Families First, a community group led by the mayor's wife,

Tedford, educates residents about the cluster and helps the affected

families.

Meanwhile, Zachary remains on chemotherapy. If that fails to keep the cancer

in remission, his odds of survival could drop to less than 50-50.

Among the things keeping the first-grader going: His mother is pregnant.

Unbowed by the cancer cluster, the Beardsleys are having their third child -

and their first girl. Tammi Beardsley says they wanted another child long

before the leukemia hit.

The baby could be as much for Zachary as his parents.

Doctors are freezing blood from the baby's umbilical cord and placenta, in

case Zachary's chemotherapy fails and he needs a stem cell transplant to

produce healthy blood.

" This baby possibly holds, if needed, the key to Zack's future, " says his

41-year-old mother.

The baby is due next month.

" Now we have insurance, if you will. "