Health workers meet with New Castle cancer patients’ families

NEW CASTLE, Ind. (WISH) – Families are searching for answers in Henry County after several people, living in close proximity to one another, were diagnosed with the same kind of brain cancer. State health leaders traveled to New Castle Wednesday night to meet with families of cancer patients.

State health leaders said they investigated cases of the brain cancer glioblastoma in Henry County over the past 16 years. Officials said the number of cases they found, 32, is less than expected based on the area’s population.

Aundrea Dailey said she doesn’t think the cases are coincidental. Her father died last September after a fight with glioblastoma.

“Our lives were shattered. Our dad was a man who worked out four nights a week, to a man who could barely take care of himself,” Dailey said.

Less than a mile from her dad’s house, Burke Smith’s wife is fighting the same kind of cancer. She’s going through chemotherapy after being diagnosed earlier this year.

Smith said a third glioblastoma patient in the neighborhood, who lived next door to him and his wife, died in late 2013.

“All of us sitting on this road, we sit here and wonder, is there something here leading to cancer,” Smith said.

Smith said he knows health leaders won’t find a cure for his wife anytime soon, but, like Dailey, he doesn’t want to have to worry about the cause. He’s hoping Wednesday’s meeting is a step closer to clarity.

“We all want better for our children. We all want to know that it’s safe for our children,” Smith said.

“”The sad truth is that we may never know why any of these individuals became ill, but we want to make sure we have conducted a thorough investigation so that we can bring some reassurance to residents who are understandably worried,” Indiana State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams said in a statement.