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National study looks at leukemia cluster in Nevada

By Katie Worth
Pacific Daily News
[email protected]

June 27, 2005 - If a handful of beans is tossed onto a checkerboard, it's only natural that some checker squares will have no beans and others will have a few.

This is one analogy scientists use to explain that cancer clusters happen naturally.

But what's the explanation when all of the beans end up piled onto one square?

This is the question that scientists, government officials and grief-stricken families have been grappling with as they try to figure out what happened in one small town in the middle of America.

Fallon, Nev., is a quiet desert town, with a population of 8,300, located next to a naval air station. The town became famous when 15 of its children became sick with leukemia in just a few short years.

Statistically, a cluster of this magnitude will occur in the United States only once every 22,000 years, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study.

Since the tragedy in Fallon was one of the largest leukemia clusters ever recorded, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention invested two years and millions of dollars into trying to discover what might have caused it.

In those two years, scientists took urine and blood samples from dozens of people, measured chemical levels in the environment, looked at family and medical histories across the county, vacuumed out houses looking for contaminants, and tested for viruses.

In the end, however, the scientists did not find any smoking gun, just a handful of clues that seemed to point in different directions.

One theory held that jet fuel from the nearby naval air station could have factored in to the cluster. According to the federal report, jet fuel has been associated with immune system effects in several studies and benzene, a minor component of jet fuel, has been associated with increased rates of leukemia.

To flesh out this theory, the federal health department's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences did a study looking at leukemia rates in other U.S. counties with military aviation bases.

In the end, no general increase in childhood leukemia was found in the other counties.

Now, scientists are beginning to look into what may be the next big leukemia cluster. In Sierra Vista, Ariz., 13 children have been diagnosed with leukemia since 1997. The town is near Fort Huachuca, an Army base, and Libby Army Airfield.

The county, state and federal health departments have been doing tests on families in the area to see if they may provide more clues to what caused the rates, but officials from the CDC have warned parents that answers to their questions may not be available right away.

Events set to help leukemia victim

By: Donna Lukiw, Staff Writer

12/15/2005 - MIKES for Manville will hold a blood drive and bone marrow screening for Christine Brisebois from 2 to 8 p.m. Dec. 30 at the VFW post on Washington Avenue.

Former Manville resident Christine Brisebois, 39, wasn't prepared for the news she got after blood tests she needed to find the cause of some black and blue marks developing on her legs. Ms. Brisebois' Nov. 21 blood test results confronted her with what most would call their worst fear cancer.

She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, with her white blood cell count three times higher than normal. The high count meant the cells were not working in fighting infections, which leads to a build up of the cells in bone marrow, blocking the growth of healthy white blood cells.

The next day, Ms. Brisebois was transported to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital and has been there since, undergoing chemotherapy treatment and bone marrow biopsies. "I'm so proud with how she's handling this," Troy Brisebois, Christine's husband, said. "She's been very courageous."

Before the Brisebois family was aware of Ms. Brisebois' condition they were in the process of moving to a new home on Weston Road in Hillsborough. "The day we were moving is when she got her initial blood work done," Mr. Brisebois said. "The next night in our new house she had cancer."

Ms. Brisebois recently finished her second round of chemotherapy, which lasted six days, and will be going through her fourth bone marrow biopsy Monday (Dec. 19). "They were hoping to go into remission after the first round of chemotherapy," Mr. Brisebois said. "They had to do much stronger chemo the second round."

She has received multiple blood transfusions, one being from a Colorado donor but more is needed. Within the next four to six weeks, Ms. Brisebois is expected to get a bone marrow transplant but a match has not yet been found. "Hopefully, her older brothers, Steve and Jim, or her older sister, Mary, will be a match," Mr. Brisebois said.

Mr. and Mrs. Brisebois are both 1984 Manville High School graduates and high school sweethearts. They have been married for 17 years and have three children: Rich, 16, Alyssa, 13, and Carly, 11, all attending Hillsborough district schools. "The children have been handling it quite courageously," Mr. Brisebois said. "We're trying to keep the continuity going in everyday life. I want to thank all my friends and family for the support."

MIKES for Manville will be holding a blood drive and bone marrow screening for Ms. Brisebois from 2 to 8 p.m. Dec. 30 at the VFW post on Washington Avenue. Anyone interested in making a blood donation can call Ron Koes at 725-7266.

Mrs. Brisebois' blood type is A positive, but anyone can still help by making a donation of blood platelets. Contact either Ortho Pharmaceuticals on Route 202 in Bridgewater, or Robert Wood Johnson at (732) 235-8100, ext. 244. Be sure to specify you are donating for Christine Brisebois. All donors must be at least 17 years of age.

Life-saving quest by a brother
By Ed Baker/ [email protected]

January 27, 2006 - Time is precious for Weymouth resident Jason Quinlan because his sister Emily, 18, is in a life and death struggle with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. The rare cancer does not allow her body to produce healthy blood cells and Emily needs a bone marrow transplant to increase her survival chances.

"She was diagnosed with cancer at Thanksgiving time in 2004," Jason said. "She went into her doctor complaining of a sore throat and they did some blood tests and discovered she had leukemia."

A number of bone marrow drives are being held to aid Emily, including one in Amesbury next weekend at Holy Family Parish. (see accompanying box)

Acute Myelogenous Leukemia occurs when a person's bone marrow does not produce enough healthy blood cells. A normal bone marrow makes blood-forming cells that grow into the three types of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. An AML patient's bone marrow makes too many blast cells or immature white blood cells. When this imbalance occurs, the patient's marrow can't produce an adequate amount of red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets.

"The doctors told her she needs a bone marrow transplant to increase her chances for long term survival," Jason said. "Because her cancer is always recurring, that odds are against her to live cancer free. Her best odds for living a full healthy life is to have a bone marrow transplant."

Emily is being treated with chemotherapy at Boston Children's Hospital. Doctors there hope to perform a bone marrow transplant if a suitable donor is found.

"She has been there since early December," Jason said.

Children's doctors have been caring for Emily since she was diagnosed more than a year ago.

"She lives in California and grew up in Boston," Jason said. "She flew out here after she was diagnosed and underwent chemotherapy at Children's until last May. She had to stay in the hospital the entire time."

Chemotherapy treatments put the disease in remission and allowed Emily to graduate from high school in June. "She is a high honor student," Jason said.

For nearly six months, Emily remained free of AML until doctors discovered the disease returned during a recent examination.

Jason said Emily needs a bone marrow transplant to increase her survival chances from somebody with a mixed ancestry that includes a Portuguese-Italian and Irish heritage.

"Finding somebody with a mixed ancestry is tough," Jason said. "We have researched international databases and they can't find a match for her because of her background."

He said the difficulty is not discouraging Emily or her family from finding a bone marrow donor. A screening session will be held at the Elks Club in Plymouth from 9:a.m.-5: p.m. on Saturday. Donors will be asked to provide a saliva sample on a cotton tipped swab stick to a medical assistant.

"All somebody has to do is go in and have somebody take a swab of their saliva," Jason said.

He said the samples will be matched with Emily's marrow to determine an equal match.

"So many people are pulling for her," Emily's Aunt Patti Henley, a Weymouth resident said. "There are so many people that are setting up bone marrow drives for her across the state."

She said eligible donors should not be afraid of providing a bone marrow transplant.

"When people think of a bone marrow transplant, they think of somebody sticking a needle into their hip and they are extracting the marrow," Henley said. "The transplant is like donating blood. The doctor will take a donor's blood out and from the blood they get the stem cells. The doctor will then put the blood back in the donor. It's not major surgery most of the time."

She said the leukemia is not discouraging Emily.

"She considers herself shy, but she is really sweet, gracious and very smart," Henley said. "She is such a wonderful person. When we were talking about a bone marrow transplant, she said to me, Aunt Pattie, you don't understand. There is a kid from Mexico City that needs a donation and his parents don't have the resources to hold the bone marrow donation drives. She is concerned about everybody that needs a bone marrow transplant. She is especially concerned about kids that don't have the medical support system she has."

She said Emily's family and relatives are pulling together to provide her with support.

"One of our drives for her is being done by a relative in Worcester," Henley said. "She also has an aunt in Bridgewater that is organizing bone marrow donation drives. We have also got support from the families of children that have lost a child to leukemia. Its' been really heartwarming for the family to have all this support."

State law allows donors from age 16 and over to provide a saliva sample to determine if they are eligible for a bone marrow transplant. Children under age 18, must have a parental consent form signed prior to being tested.

"The test is covered by Mass Insurance and all health insurance agencies," Henley said. "People should bring their insurance card with them if they are going to be tested."

She said the family realizes bone marrow transplants carry a failure risk.

"The actual transplant is anti-climatic when you think about what you have to go through to get it," Henley said. "The risks are there for Emily, but what she has to go through to get the transplant is rough."

Amesbury Drive

What: Bone Marrow Drive for Emily Quinlan, a friend of successful bone marrow transplant recipient L:ucy Grogan of Amesbury.

When: Saturday, Feb. 4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 5, noon to 5 p.m.

Where: Holy Family Parish Hall, Amesbury.

For Information: call Lela or Cathy, 978-388-0880; Rob Ouellette at Amesbury Skate and Sport, 978-388-4544; or visit www.lucyslovebus.org.

Sponsored By: Lucy's Love Bus Charitable Trust.

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