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Scott County parents and nurse urge faster state review after residents report 13 pediatric cancer cases
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Summary
A Scott County oncology nurse told the Board of Supervisors that 13 pediatric cancer cases have been reported locally in the past two years and urged the county to press the Virginia Cancer Registry and state health officials to speed their investigation; the board agreed to name a liaison and said staff will follow up with state contacts.
An oncology nurse who said she has nearly 17 years of experience told the Scott County Board of Supervisors that the community has recorded 13 pediatric cancer diagnoses over the past two years and is “terrified” that delays in the state review could leave families waiting for answers.
“Nine is the total as of Monday,” said Nayman Smith, identifying herself during the public-comment period and then listing specific diagnoses and locations. She named a recent stage‑4 Burkitt lymphoma, two medulloblastoma brain tumors and several B‑cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases in the county, and said most affected children have had genetic testing that did not explain the cluster.
Smith said she had collected data for families and reviewed national incidence rates, arguing the local concentration of rare diagnoses merited outside attention. “We don’t have two years,” she told the board, referring to an announced delay in the Virginia Cancer Registry’s review. She asked the board to appoint a county representative to help coordinate community information and to press the registry and the Virginia Department of Health to move faster.
Board members said they would use existing contacts to follow up. The chair said the board could “pester people to death” if needed, and Supervisor Stephanie Addington agreed to serve as a county liaison for the families. County staff said Lenowisco (the regional planning/health network) had already forwarded family survey data to the Virginia Cancer Registry and that VDH was awaiting the registry’s determination; no timeline was given.
The county did not adopt any new policy at the meeting; officials urged continued data sharing with state investigators and said staff would provide contact information to local advocates. The county administrator said he would share the state contact who had been involved with the regional transmission of case data.
Next steps: the board asked staff to keep the county updated on the registry’s review and to provide any new case information to VDH and the Cancer Registry as it becomes available.
