Doctor who got cancer at age 30 demands investigation into possible cluster

A doctor who was diagnosed with bowel cancer at age 30 has raised the alarm about a possible ‘cancer cluster’ after discovering 20 classmates from a high school near an Air Force base were also diagnosed with cancers at young ages.

Dr. Julie Greenwalt, 33, called upon Florida state health officials to investigate after she and other classmates from Satellite High School were diagnosed with cancer at unusually young ages.

Though there’s no proof of a connection, and the cancers have been a variety of types, some are worried that groundwater contamination from nearby Patrick Air Force Base, which borders Satellite Beach, could be to blame.

‘It’s really absolutely not normal for this many people in one high school to get cancer,’ Greenwalt, a radiation oncologist at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center, told Florida Today for a lengthy exposé.

‘It’s just very, very odd. It seems like all of my friends from high school are getting cancer.’ 

Dr. Julie Greenwalt, 33, (above with husband) has called upon Florida state health officials to investigate after she and her high school classmates got cancer at young ages

Victoria Hicks, 34, (above) was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer on May 12, 2017, at age 33. Her son was just five years old at the time

Victoria Hicks, 34, (above) was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer on May 12, 2017, at age 33. Her son was just five years old at the time

Greenwalt discovered the apparent trend through Facebook connections when she received her shock cancer diagnosis just months after she had her first child.

Three high school classmates had already died from cancer, and another 17 had been diagnosed. Now the survivors are united and demanding an investigation and answers.

In May, the group was rocked by a report in Military Times suggesting that cancer-causing chemicals in firefighting foam could be linked to cancers in children that grew up on Patrick AFB, right next to Satellite Beach.

Patrick is the home of the 45th Space Wing, which runs rocket launch operations at nearby Cape Canaveral.

The firefighting chemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), are unregulated but have come under increasing scrutiny.

Airmen at Patrick AFB are seen participating in a beach cleanup on the base in February. Fears of a cancer cluster have emerged after a study found groundwater contamination on base

Airmen at Patrick AFB are seen participating in a beach cleanup on the base in February. Fears of a cancer cluster have emerged after a study found groundwater contamination on base

Patrick is the home of the 45th Space Wing, which runs launch operations at nearby Cape Canaveral. Pictured: An Atlas V lifts off from Canaveral on April 14 

Patrick is the home of the 45th Space Wing, which runs launch operations at nearby Cape Canaveral. Pictured: An Atlas V lifts off from Canaveral on April 14 

On Wednesday, a long-awaited federal report on the chemicals was released in draft form, months after a White House official warned in leaked emails that it could be a ‘potential public relations nightmare.’

The 800-page study found that even at extremely low exposures, the compounds are implicated in some types of cancer, thyroid defects, immune suppression and pregnancy complications.

Current EPA regulations put the safety level for PFOS and PFOA in drinking water at 70 parts per trillion, or about 70 grains of sugar in an Olympic swimming pool.

At Patrick AFB, all 28 of the groundwater monitoring wells show levels of PFOS and PFOA above the guidelines, ranging from 71 parts per trillion to an astonishing 4.3million parts per trillion, according to a Pentagon report released in March. 

The drinking water in Satellite Beach does not come from the ground there – instead it is brought in from nearby Melbourne or Cocoa.

But Satellite residents routinely use groundwater for lawns and landscaping, and Greenwald suspects she could have been exposed through the lagoons and river she played and fished in as a child.

Victoria Hicks (above with son) is one of seven Satellite High graduates to get breast cancer at a young age, in her case just 33

Victoria Hicks (above with son) is one of seven Satellite High graduates to get breast cancer at a young age, in her case just 33

'It's just very, very odd. It seems like all of my friends from high school are getting cancer,' said Greenwalt (above) a radiation oncologist at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center

‘It’s just very, very odd. It seems like all of my friends from high school are getting cancer,’ said Greenwalt (above) a radiation oncologist at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center

The questions and cancer cases in the area are mounting. 

Satellite High graduate Amie Morgan developed breast cancer at age 26, one of seven known breast cancer cases who graduated within a few years of each other from the school. 

Victoria Hicks, 34, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer on May 12, 2017, at age 33. Her son was just five years old at the time.

In a case in town but not linked to the high school, Kathleen Marler’s son Ricky was only seven when he was diagnosed with t-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, a rare, fast-growing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Now 10 and recovering, Ricky was celebrated by the city’s firefighters who made him an honorary firefighter after his diagnosis.

A month ago, Marler met the previous owner of her house, who stunned her with the revelation that she too had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Greenwald urges anyone who has lived near Patrick AFB and develops cancer at an early age to contact state health officials.

Across the country, the Pentagon report found 36 military bases where PFOS/PFOA levels in drinking water tested above recommended levels.

In Florida, state health officials say they’re taking the concerns very seriously, but warn it can be difficult to prove that a cancer cluster exists or that its causes are beyond random chance.

Manufacturers of firefighting foam began phasing out the use of PFOS and PFOA around the year 2000. 

The chemicals are part of a class that has also been used in Teflon cookware, waterproof fabric and coatings on fast food wrappers.



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