But the word just can’t elude her, particularly in the town she called home for years. Seemingly every time she would have a conversation, it involved this person or that coming down with some form of the disease, having died from the disease or being treated for the disease. She’s become alarmed and now is underway with her own grassroots effort to help identify why so many Lyndhurst residents are or have been stricken with cancer.

"A lot of people I talk to are concerned, they’re worried like me as why so many residents have gotten cancer," said Colabella. "It just seems like there is a problem."

Annette Bortone, a lifelong resident and former classmate of Colabella, has joined her effort in getting the word out, echoing Colabella’s concerns that too many residents have been afflicted with cancer. Her mother died in 1978 at the age of 66 of uterine cancer.

"I had a friend two years ago that lived on Second Avenue that passed. She first had lung cancer and it turned into stage-four brain cancer. Last month, her sister, same thing, lung cancer then stage-four brain cancer," said Botone.

Gathering data

Colabella contacted the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) in a plea to send investigators out to Lyndhurst to assess whether a cancer cluster is present and if so, what is causing it. In turn, she said they asked her to conduct her own research to see if an investigation was warranted. That’s when Colabella placed a brief in the newspaper looking for cancer victims. Patricia Cabrera, a spokesperson for the DHSS, said there is no simple protocol to the agency coming out to investigate a suspected cancer cluster and directed the South Bergenite to the agency’s Web site on those protocols. There, it does suggest requesting further information on cancer victims in a specific area. That information includes the cancer type, date of diagnosis, cancer histology, age at diagnosis, address, occupational history, smoking status and treating physician.

Penco vicinity

In two weeks, Colabella has gotten approximately 50 responses. Many she says are current or former residents that lived in the vicinity of what is now ShopRite on New York Avenue. The site was the former Penick Corp. (later Penco), a massive 17-acre pharmaceutical manufacturing company, one of the most polluted sites in Lyndhurst. It became a high priority risk brownfield in 1980 after a toluene spill had occurred, creating a more than three-acre groundwater contaminant plume. A smaller benzene plume was also found on the site. The site lay abandoned throughout the 1990s until it began redevelopment at the turn of this century. Bio-vents and an asphalt cap have been permitted uses to quell underground contaminants from spreading, making way for the development. Benzene, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is a known carcinogen.

"There are lots of Superfund sites in the area and they are looking at contaminated sites in Lyndhurst, but they are only looking at the dirt, not looking at the people," she said. "What I’ve been reading is benzene is a big cause of cancer and benzene is what they tested for there."

Colabella when she lived in Lyndhurst, lived up the street from Penick on New York Avenue. Her father’s eight brothers and sisters as well as two cousins have all passed due to cancer. Her grandfather was a machinist, employed next to the Penick site while it was in full manufacturing operation.

The need to know

"I think this should raise a red flag. Anytime there’s a question raised, whether it turns out there’s a cluster or not, we won’t know until those questions are answered," said Lyndhurst Health Administrator Joyce Jacobson. Jacobson said with more information, she would like to help as much as she can with getting the state to show some sort of response. "I don’t know what the incidence is, but if there is a problem, I think we definitely need to know."

Chris Delaney, a resident of the corner of New York Avenue and Lafayette Place lives just a just a stone’s throw north of the Penco site. In 2004, she suffered the loss of her mother, just months after she was diagnosed with the same rare cancer as Colabella. In Delaney’s case however, unlike Colabella, her mother’s immediate family had no history of cancer.

"When I saw Lorraine’s request, I immediately answered her," said Delaney. "It really struck a chord with me, that something could actually be causing this [cancer]."

Delaney also remembers the company that bought out Penick coming into her home on the advisement of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protect (DEP) in 1989 to test indoor air quality for toluene and benzene levels. The carcinogen, benzene, was tested at 25.1 parts per billion in her home. Control homes tested further from Penick average benzene levels at 3.3 parts per billion. The company concluded there was no significant difference in air quality between the cumulative mass of study homes and control homes, however. The DEP required no further indoor testing.

In 1978, the state had explored a possible cancer cluster scare in neighboring Rutherford after an outbreak of six children, all attending Pierrepont School, afflicted with leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease was bought to light. The state, due to insufficient incidence calculations and negative adverse environmental evidence, deemed the cluster inconclusive.