Three families face leukemia:
Part II
It's the environment, feel the Andersons

(This was a series of stories I did not write until I had confirmation that there was indeed a very real cluster of childhood leukemia in Woburn. Other newspapers and TV stations had written anecdotal stories about the leukemia. But, even though I had broken a story in December 1979 which indicated there was an elevated level of leukemia in the city, that story was not confirmed until the following spring when the state's Department of Public Health cited the same statistics I had cited the previous year. The health problems in Woburn were being taken very seriously by the spring of 1980. There was another reason I had put off doing the story. It was a very difficult story to do and still respect the privacy and human dignity of the families involved. I had two children at this point. I lived in East Woburn, the area affected by the bad water, and I was worried that my own children might face the same future faced by Jimmy Anderson and Robbie Robbins.)

By CHARLES C. RYAN

(The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has said that no definite link between high rates of leukemia and cancer in Woburn and the toxic wastes in the city has been proven. While that may be the case, the incidences of these diseases take a human toll that cannot be conveyed by statistics. To tell the human side of the story, The Daily Times has interviewed three of the families affected by leukemia. In the following story, parents, describe in their own words how they have dealt with that problem, and how they feel about it.)

WOBURN - "Jimmy's growth has been stunted by the chemicals. When he was born, he weighed 10 1/2 pounds and was 22 inches long and he was growing the same as other kids before ... I always thought it was the water. I still believe it. It's environmental."

Charles, 41, and Anne, 43, Anderson live at 11 Orange Street with their three children, Christine 17, Chuck 13, and Jimmy, 11. Eight years ago, when he was three, Jimmy was diagnosed with leukemia.

"Fortunately he was diagnosed early," remembers Anne. "We all had colds. We got over it. Jimmy didn't. He was pale for two weeks. We took him to the doctor and he took one look and said, 'he is really pale.' We went to the lab with a blood sample and they rushed it. His white blood count was half of what it should be."

Charles Anderson works in the data processing division at GTE Sylvania in Waltham. He and his family moved to Woburn in 1964. He and Anne are outspoken, angry and frustrated.

"I personally wonder if we had settled someplace else, it probably wouldn't have happened," feels Anne.

"Jimmy has a lot more reaction to drugs than most. He's lost his hair three times. The drugs make him feel nauseous, give him diarrhea, a high temperature. He should be in the sixth grade, but he's in the fifth. His reading and math are only at a grade three level. He's losing more than 100 days a year from school. His motor control is not what it should be," his mother states.

"It's a strain on our family relationship," admits Charles, "Chuck was only five when Jimmy was diagnosed." He couldn't explain it. He was too young.

"You try to treat them (all three children) equally, but it's impossible. You can't bring yourself to be stern with Jimmy," says Mr. Anderson.

"I've gone years without spanking him, without yelling at him. Then once I did, the next day he was very ill and I felt guilty," agrees his wife.

"Jimmy is socially immature. He hasn't had contact with kids his own age. He identifies more with adults. He's spent three years in schools outside our area, so he hasn't developed many friendships," relates Anne. "He can't play as hard as the other kids, or as long as they can. He's afraid of being hurt."

"Our kids don't know what they are missing," she concedes. "They've never been to a circus. That time of year, Jimmy is sick or has a low blood count. We couldn't put him in a crowd."

"We'd like to take them to Disney World, but we can't," Anne explains.

"There has been some resentment towards Jimmy," Mr. Anderson acknowledges. "But generally they are sympathetic and understanding.

"You learn to live with it. You have to," he says.

"I just don't see where all the leukemia cases in our area aren't correlated," says Anne. "It seems they have to be. The thing that strikes me is there are two neighbors off of Pine Street who have children with leukemia. A year later people on the other side of the street had their child diagnosed and two people we know personally were diagnosed," she notes.

"Before, in all of my life," says Charles, "I knew of only one child with leukemia. But these are all in Woburn."

"From the time we moved here, the water was so bad in the summer. It had an unpleasant odor and a terrible taste," Mrs. Anderson recalls. "My mother brought jars of MDC water when she came to visit. The kids used to always ask for 'Nana water.' It was like mother's milk, for God's sake. She still brings it when she visits."

"I've replaced the faucets in the house three times in 15 years; the seats were eaten away," Mr. Anderson complains. "The dishwasher door was just eaten away."

One day when Jimmy was watching television the regular program was interrupted for a news announcement: Chad Green had died in Mexico. (Green was in Mexico seeking laetril treatment for his leukemia, a treatment illegal in the U.S.).

"I was in the room," Mrs. Anderson remembers. "Jimmy's reaction was one of shock, of wonderment.....he had a lot of questions."

"I said, 'you know why Chad died, don't you?' and he said, 'yes, because he didn't take his medicine.'"

Four years ago, Jimmy was taken off chemotherapy, but he had a relapse.

"I feel so strongly it's the environment," insists Mrs. Anderson.

"I always felt if it was something as obvious as the water, someone would have known," explains Mr. Anderson. "But recently, it seems there's more to it than meets the eye."

"It's very hard for private citizens, parents, to be listened to. They feel it's emotionalism and tend to dismiss what to you is so obvious," he says.

"I'm very angry and frustrated and bitter," agrees Mrs. Anderson. "The whole family is so adversely affected in every aspect of living."

"It strikes me our own Board of Health is pretty darn weak," continues Mr. Anderson. "They've been assuring us all along. In that particular area, the city has been terribly lax. We couldn't even get anyone's ear on this water problem.

"There are certain things the city's obligated to do," Mr. Anderson believes. "And the first is to listen to the people they serve. They have an obligation; a moral obligation to go beyond what is required. To say, 'we meet the requirements and there's nothing more we can do,' is unacceptable."

(Editor's note: Jimmy Anderson died in early 1981. Anne and Charles later divorced. Anne continued pursuing her belief that the water had caused her son's illness. She eventually gained vindication in 1996 when the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which had originally scoffed at the idea, officially reported that exposure to water from G and H wells did cause the elevated levels of childhood leukemia and other illnesses in East Woburn. Earlier studies had indicated that the chemicals in the water affected people primarily when they took a shower or bath. The chemicals entered the body directly through the skin, and also the chemical fumes entered the body through the lungs, by breathing the steam released by the shower. Drinking the water was the third avenue of exposure.)