I-Team Extras: Secrets in the Soil
Jul 2, 2009 11:16 pm US/Eastern
Jenna's Journey: Family Wants Answers On Cancer
Click Here To Read More In Carey Codd's Blog
THE ACREAGE (CBS4) ―
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Jenna McCann was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died some time later. She is seen here with her family, who want answers as to why their neighborhood is making children sick.
CBS
For three years, Kaye McCann believed her daughter Jenna's death at the age of 4 from brain cancer was "bad luck." Her opinion changed two weeks ago.
That's when residents from McCann's neighborhood of The Acreage in Palm Beach County began realizing that a number of children and adults suffered from brain tumors and brain cancer within the past five years.
"To think there's something that caused this, you want to get so angry," McCann told
CBS4's Carey Codd. "First of all at the (government) agencies because you want them to move faster but also for whatever is causing this."
The McCann family recently joined a growing chorus of Acreage residents demanding an investigation into why people in this community are ill.
"I don't want anybody else to go through that," said David McCann, Jenna's father. "It's not just 50 families. It's 50-thousand families or however many are out here. We need answers. That's all we're asking for."
There is no evidence that the cases are connected, but the suspicions are rampant. There are fears over the well water, pesticides from nearby orange groves or some substance in the soil.
Wednesday, Senator Bill Nelson convened a meeting of the community and the Florida Department of Health to share stories and solutions. Nelson told CBS4 he does not believe these cases are a coincidence.
"Eighteen families came to the table and all have some form of cancer and most of the cases were brain cancer and all of these families live within a two mile radius," Nelson said. "That is no coincidence."
The Florida Department of Health is compiling data to see if there is a higher incidence of cancer in the area but the process is too slow for David McCann. He wants the Florida Health Department to thoroughly test the blood and tissue of several of the families living with cancer and determine what's causing their illnesses.
"To take a wait and see attitude? That doesn't cut it," he said. "How many people are gonna die? How many more children are gonna be affected? And now we have to worry about this for the rest of our lives."
The McCann family already has a lifetime of pain to live with.
In February 2005, 3-year-old Jenna McCann began complaining of headaches. The diagnosis would change the McCann family in ways they never imagined: Jenna had brain cancer.
After surgery and treatment, a doctor told the McCann family Jenna would make a full recovery.
The doctor was wrong.
In December 2005, Jenna's tumor returned. After surgery, countless rounds of chemo and radiation treatments, the doctor told her parents Jenna would not survive. She died on May 19, 2006.
"You never forget," Kaye McCann said. "We do our best to live like normal people but we have part of us missing. A part of our heart is gone."
"Losing a child is the worst thing a parent can ever go through."
The McCann family is heartbroken that Jenna will never again play with big sister Tara. "They were so close," Kaye McCann said.
Little brother Jacob barely remembers his older sister. "If you ask Jacob where is Jenna? He says she's up in the sky," Kaye McCann said. "And that's all he knows about her. He'll never know the person she was."
The entire McCann family lives differently than they did two weeks ago. They no longer drink from the tap and only use bottled water. The children are not allowed to play in the dirt. And the family is preparing to sell the home they've lived in for nearly 20 years.
"To not know that my family is safe living right here, I can't have that," David McCann said. "I cannot afford to have one of my other children end up with a brain tumor. I couldn't live with myself."
Many other families in this rural community of expansive homes and multi-acre lots, feel the same fears. They, like the McCann's, are awaiting answers.
While they wait, the McCann family is forced to relive the most painful memories of their lives. Kaye McCann wonders if the purpose of Jenna's short life was to warn the community of hidden dangers.
"I don't want my daughter's death to be in vain," Kaye McCann said. "As hard as it is to think that was our daughter and to think that her purpose was to be here for such a short time, it's hard."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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