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O’Neal seeking answers about potential cancer cluster

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Rep. Tim O’Neal

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Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter

In this March photo, Mitch Barton poses with a 1959 Farmall Cub tractor he has been restoring. 

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Natalie Britvich and Luke Blanock on Feb. 19,2016, their wedding day. Blanock died of Ewing’s sarcoma in August 2016.

Prompted by residents’ concerns about a possible cancer cluster in and around Canon-McMillan School District, state Rep. Tim O’Neal, R-South Strabane, has organized a meeting with local elected officials and government agencies to get information and seek answers.

Residents want to know why in one patch of Washington County an unusual number of people have been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

O’Neal has invited representatives from Canon-McMillan School District and officials from the municipalities that comprise the school district – Canonsburg, Cecil and North Strabane – along with county officials, state agencies and doctors from UPMC in Pittsburgh, to a closed-door meeting April 24 in Canonsburg.

“I understand it’s clearly an issue that people in the community are concerned about, and I am too,” said O’Neal. “We are certainly not ignoring this issue. We are aware of it and we’re determining if there are any steps we need to take going forward. It’s an educational meeting.”

The state Department of Health is investigating cancer statistics in Canon-Mac to determine if the number of cancer cases in the area is elevated compared to incidences for the same type of cancer in the rest of the state.

In the past 10 years, six people with ties in the school district have been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma.

Each year, fewer than 200 cases of Ewing’s sarcoma are diagnosed in the United States.

Currently, two men who live within Canon-McMillan School District, Mitchell Barton, 21, and David Cobb, are undergoing rounds of chemotherapy for Ewing’s.

Nate Wardle, spokesman for the Department of Health, said the department should have some results regarding the cancer cases this month.

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