Parents call for action, DOH holds public meeting over cancer cases in Washington Co.

CANONSBURG, Pa. — Concerns over cases of a rare cancer in the Canon-McMillan School District were discussed Monday night during a public hearing.

For months, Channel 11 News has been investigating the number of cases of Ewing's sarcoma and other childhood cancers in the school district. There have been six in the last 10 years.

CANCER CLUSTER CONCERNS:
“If Canon-Mac isn’t considered a cancer cluster, what # of diagnoses do you need to make it one?” -wife of survivor to Health Dept.
“I don’t have that statistic.”
“Our community would like that number - we’re not going away.” @WPXI
— Amy Hudak (@amy_hudak) October 7, 2019

A Pennsylvania Department of Health report released in April found no evidence of a cancer cluster, but it had to be verified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before a public meeting could be held to discuss the findings.

But parents have questioned how accurate the study was. Two additional teens were diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in 2018 and not included in the study, and another was misreported.

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Monday night, concerned families had the chance to address their concerns.

The meeting took an emotional turn, at times, when families directly affected pleaded for the health department to run more accurate numbers again.

Parents, including the Blanocks, who lost their son Luke after a 3-year battle with Ewing's sarcoma, want to know if something in the environment is causing the cancer.

"If Gov. Wolf and our representatives we elected choose to ignore our pleas for an investigation, there most likely will be long-term negative effects," Janice Blanock said.

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