opinion

Feared cancer cluster has Fort Pierce residents, experts baffled

Cancer is everywhere. One in three Americans will develop cancer in their lifetime; three out of four U.S. families will be affected by the disease.

In most cases, the cause of cancer is fairly self-evident: poor lifestyle choices like smoking, exposure to dangerous chemicals, or family history.

None of those factors explains why a dozen people clustered in or near one Fort Pierce zip code have been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a deadly and aggressive form of brain cancer that afflicts only one in 13,000 Americans each year.

Through word of mouth and social media, patients and survivors have found each other and formed a support group. They share information about each other's condition, but they wish they knew more about why the cancers have struck them.

Stephanie Cunningham's husband Mark was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2016. She's worked as a nurse for the Florida Department of Health in St. Lucie for 17 years and she's seen similar clusters before.

She's very frustrated.

"This is a pattern. When are they going to stop it?" Cunningham wants to know.

She points to four cases discovered on the same street in White City, something experts have never seen. She questions why many of the current cancer victims are young men in their 30s and 40s. Gliobastoma typically attacks people in their 60s.

"My question," Cunningham said, "is when do (the authorities) start testing?"

To date, the health department and experts at the state level have undertaken a statistical analysis of the Fort Pierce cluster of cancer cases. They found "no statistically significant excess of glioblastoma" in St. Lucie County, according to the department's website.

Health department officials haven't done environmental testing, which Cunningham would like to see.

Desperate for answers, she recently went to Washington D.C. to enlist the support of District 18 U.S. Rep. Brian Mast.

A week ago, Mast came to meet the families in St. Lucie County and has reached out for more help from the Centers for Disease Control.

"When I heard about a concentration of cancer in our community of nearly a dozen diagnoses within a couple miles of each other," Mast wrote in an email, "that's very concerning to me. These families are courageous for telling their stories, and it's showing how our community can come together to support each other. I'm dedicated to doing all I can to help."

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Families like Jackie "Kevin" Perry's are surviving financially, his wife Ronna said, but emotionally they are drained.

"It's totally changed our lives," Ronna Perry told me. "We're a close-knit, strong family — and we're grateful for the support of family and good friends — but we're still living in a fog. We don't focus on our fears, but we have to look at the statistics."

And the statistics are grim. Glioblastoma is incurable, even with surgery. The five-year survival rate is around 14 percent.

Perry's daughter Hannah, 22, graphically described her emotions.

"It's like being on an island," she said, "people pop in and visit, but in the end it's just us. It's like a mental battle for all of us. The dad I recognized was always super-active, hardworking. He's been trapped in the house for a year now."

Kevin Perry, 56, a lineman for Florida Power & Light, came home from work a year ago, and collapsed in the back yard, having a grand mal seizure.

At first, doctors were as mystified as the Perrys. They thought he might be suffering from viral encephalitis. Ronna then contacted friends at a hospital in Houston who instantly recognized the signs of glioblastoma, she said.

"I really don't think it's random," Kevin Perry believes, "there are too many people with it."

He suspects the cluster may be connected to former citrus groves in the area. Perry said he worked in that industry for years before going to FPL and saw all sorts of chemicals dumped in ditches in the groves.

"It's a horror story," he said of his condition. "I was never sick a day in my life. When I was first diagnosed I kept asking myself, 'Is tomorrow my last day? Will I live to see my kids grow up?' "

Perry undergoes regular infusion and chemotherapy treatments in Vero Beach. He's had four major seizures and must take steroids to suppress those.

Ronna Perry and Stephanie Cunningham hope an upcoming open house — hosted by the health department June 12 in Fort Pierce — may provide some answers.

"Our primary goal of the open house is to inform interested parties and our community on the research compiled by subject matter experts on various topics related to glioblastoma concerns within the community," wrote St. Lucie County Medical Officer Clint Sperber in an email. "We have been transparent in the process with the glioblastoma support group members, community partners, elected officials and the state health office. This process involves many agencies to address these concerns, and we will continue to gather feedback from concerned citizens before, during and after the June 12 event."

Cunningham remembers a cancer cluster 20 years ago in Port St. Lucie. Thirty children were struck with a variety of cancers. Many of them died. Despite the best efforts of researchers, the health department and state experts never could identify a "smoking gun."

We can only hope there's a different result this time.

"My husband is 34. These are young men," Cunningham said plaintively. "When do we find out? Our insurance company won't cover in-home help. I can't leave him on his own. It's like having a 34-year-old dementia patient. It's devastating."

Anthony Westbury is a columnist for TCPalm.com. This column reflects his opinion. Contact him at 772-221-4220, anthony.westbury@tcpalm.com, or follow him @TCPalmWestbury on Twitter.

OPEN HOUSE

What: Meeting with cancer experts to offer information about cancers.

When: June 12, 5 pm. to 9 p.m.

Where: Bailey Auditorium at Indian River Community College's Public Safety Complex, Kirby Loop Road, Fort Pierce.

Open to the public.