Roxanne and Kent Krumanaker
Marion, OH

With Kim's many complications, our stay in Seattle grew from 90 days to nine months. During this time, Kim developed such an acute case of gut graft vs host disease (GVHD) that it caused her new marrow graft to fail and nearly took her life. She became the first patient to receive an unrelated bone marrow transplant, lose her graft and live long enough for the doctors to decide what to do. For the six weeks it took doctors and scientists to develop a protocol to jump-start Kim's marrow, Kim was without blood counts and an immune system. Any infection, fungus, or bacteria could have killed her. Only by the Grace of God and generous blood and platelet donors did she survive. I gave Kim my platelets over 20 times during this period. Finally, doctors reached a first-ever decision to contact the original donor again. On September 3, 1994, Kim was infused with stem cells, giving her marrow the incentive to begin producing red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

It has been a long and rocky five years for Kim but she is leukemia-free, and, after two and a half years of rehabilitation, she is again working full-time. But there has been serious damage to her health. Heavy doses of medications necessary to save her life have destroyed many of her joints, including both of her knees, her right ankle and her left wrist. (Last fall, she received her first knee replacement.) She is deaf in her right ear, she can no longer cry tears, and, being post-menopausal, she will never bear children.

As devastating as this has been to our family, we feel fortunate. Life is extremely precious to us, our family has a very special bond, and we do our best to help others. Whenever asked, Kim is a guest speaker for the American Red Cross, the Leukemia Society, and the American Cancer Society in an effort to bring awareness to those that want to listen.

But working towards Kim's recovery has not been our only goal. Shortly after returning home from Seattle, we learned of two 1990 graduates of Kim's high school who were diagnosed with leukemia six weeks apart. A red flag went up immediately! Leukemia is a rare cancer and makes up only 2.5 percent of cancers diagnosed each year. Knowing about these and other cancers from River Valley, seven families formed a group, The Concerned River Valley Families.

Our group was aware that the town's middle and high schools were built in 1962 on a portion of the former Marion Engineer Depot (MED). This depot was the largest in the nation during World War II and was responsible for stockpiling and renovating equipment and supplies needed for the war effort. The MED operated from 1942 until 1961. We discovered that throughout these years, employees stripped old paint, cleaned machinery with solvents, repainted equipment, and changed the oil in trucks and jeeps. Radioactive materials were also housed at the MED, as well as asbestos and PCBs. Disposal activities included burying and/or burning all excess and runoff materials.

Our group made numerous phone calls to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After we wrote countless letters to numerous governmental officials, an environmental investigation began in June 1997. From the 35 documented cancer cases our group turned over to ODH, only the incidence of leukemia was found to be too high. Rather than the expected 1.7 cases, there were six.

Aerial photographs have confirmed that MED dump sites covered nearly 50 of the 78-acres of the school grounds, and soil testing by the EPA and the Army has revealed many cancer-causing chemicals. Some of these are known leukemigens — including benzene, trichlorethylene (TCE), vinyl chloride, arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, PCBs, and dioxin — and many are found within 500 feet of the school buildings at hundreds of times the acceptable levels. Yet most of the Ohio EPA and the Army's air and ground water tests do not correspond. For over a year, our group has insisted that the agencies do year-long, comprehensive water and air monitoring which, after millions of dollars of testing, have never been done properly. While many athletic fields have been roped off for nearly a year due to high levels of chemical contamination, these agencies do not know what the children are drinking and breathing. They continue to downplay the severity of this situation. Children continue to attend this 'Love Canal' school.

Our group has continually monitored this investigation. Through a newspaper ad, we found and confirmed 60 additional cancers among graduates, and the leukemia count is now up to 13. In addition, 14 more cases of leukemia have been documented within the six-mile oval surrounding the MED. Now, with these new cases, other cancers such as breast, melanoma, cervical, and brain are double the expected number. However, the ODH has indicated that these increases will not cause them to extend their investigation. In fact, the ODH and the local school board have decided not to notify the 50 percent of River Valley graduates and attendees who have moved out of the area, leaving the real incidence unknown.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took over the environmental testing on the school grounds nearly a year ago. The liable party, the Army, is doing the testing and determining the outcome — the fox is watching the hen house. It is determining if the school property can ever be safe enough for children.

The past 19 months have been a rude awakening for us. Every time we request a "common sense" approach to the River Valley School environmental testing, we hear that 1) government agencies do not have the manpower available to perform the tests; 2) that they do not have funds available to perform the tests; or 3) that testing is insufficient to determine the dangers. The local, state and federal governments seem concerned with the fear of class-action lawsuits, the cost of clean-up, the cost of building new schools, the fear of property values dropping and the city's and school's images. What about the children?

Our group has lived the nightmare that we are trying so desperately to help others to avoid. And in the face of this nightmare, the government agencies, the school board, and many local people are hopeful that we will become weary and give up, but it won't happen. We can take the abuse, for you see, we have already faced the most difficult situation a parent can face — the very real possibility of losing a child. We will continue to fight in the face of adversity for however long it takes because it is the only right thing to do. Perhaps when all is said and done, we are the lucky ones. We know what is really important — the preservation of future generations.

Any River Valley graduates reading this who have had any health problems, please contact our group at 740-389-6656 or ktaccorp@gte.net.

— Written by Roxanne and Kent Krumanaker

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