CLYDE — Warren and Wendy Brown are in Washington, D.C., this week to make sure money is being appropriated for childhood cancer research.

“We’ve attempted to make contact with the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations committee members,” Warren Brown said several days before he left.

The Browns’ daughter, Alexa, died in August at age 11. Brown had been fighting medulloblastoma — a common brain tumor in children that also can affect the spine. She was diagnosed in May 2006, when she was 8.

Alexa was one of 38 children in the Eastern Sandusky County cancer cluster investigation, which is being investigated. She was the third in the cluster to fall victim to the disease. Medulloblastoma also claimed the life of a 6-year-old boy, Kole Keller, in April 2007. Shila Donnersbach, 20, was the second death in the cluster in December 2007. She was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma at age 18.

Several days before the Browns left for D.C., they had three confirmed meetings with committee members, and the other 12 members either declined or hadn’t given a response.

“We’ll still be knocking on their doors and dropping off a letter from Sen. Sherrod Brown and a DVD on childhood cancer,” he said. “Hopefully someone will look at this and realize this is a population that has been affected. I’m hoping doors will open, and we’ll have to stay.”

Brown says the emphasis of this trip is to make sure money is being appropriated to children with cancer and their families through the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2008. According to the Web site curesearch.org, the act promises to significantly increase federal investment into childhood cancer research. The act is named in memory of Caroline Pryce Walker, who is the daughter of Congresswoman Deborah Pryce R-OH, who succumbed to neuroblastoma in 1999 at age 9. The bill authorizes $30 million annually over five years.

During their trip to D.C., the Brown’s will be delivering some letters that fifth- and sixth-graders from Green Springs Elementary wrote in support of research.

A 51-page progress report from the Ohio Department of Health, Sandusky County Health Department and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which was released Oct. 30, states, “However, it is possible that a cause may never be known for the higher-than-expected number of childhood cancer diagnoses in Eastern Sandusky County.”

State and local agencies will continue to work together, and additional information gathered in the investigation will be shared with the community as it becomes available.

Brown said representatives of the ODH and Ohio EPA met with the affected families to present the information in the report.

“I don’t expect concrete answers,” Brown said, noting he’s beyond frustration. “My biggest concern is money on the federal level (to be available for research).”

The report also gave a detailed history of Whirlpool Corp., Clyde Division and Vickery Environmental Inc., and the emissions they give off and the hazardous waste that has been generated. The report also detailed information on dumps and landfill areas around Clyde and Green Creek Township.

Dina Pierce, spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA, said the investigation now includes a portion of Ottawa and Erie Counties.

“We are continuing air monitoring until the end of the year, along with an analysis on water quality monitoring (from samples this past summer),” she said, noting hopefully by next spring the water monitoring will be finished.

“This is our top priority,” Pierce said, noting the bodies of water tested were the two Clyde reservoirs Raccoon and Beavercreek, along with Buck, South, Green, Pickerel and Strong creeks. But, if everything checks out at normal levels, there’s not much more the EPA can do, though they’ll still be involved.

Sandusky County Health Commissioner David Pollick said they’ve done radiation testing in area schools, which also included Fremont, and will be doing so in the homes of the children affected. However, in the schools, there were no significant findings, Pollick said.

Robert Jennings, spokesman of the Ohio Department of Health, said they also are continuing their research on reproductive outcomes, which includes low birth weights and mortality rates among other factors.read article online