{"id":15123,"date":"2026-07-23T23:19:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15123"},"modified":"2026-07-23T23:19:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:19:48","slug":"experts-discuss-rare-socal-cancer-cluster-impacting-local-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15123","title":{"rendered":"Experts discuss rare SoCal cancer cluster impacting local children"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-lsl06i65u-1784830235153.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261784815908\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Cancer experts have revealed the horrifying truth about the rash of extremely rare Ewing Sarcoma cases ravaging an elite California enclave.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2013, at least six children from the Orange County\u2019s affluent Ladera Ranch have been diagnosed with the rare and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/16\/us-news\/federal-prosecutor-demands-probe-into-ewing-sarcoma-cases-among-oc-children\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">insidious bone cancer<\/a> \u2014 with several fatalities in 2026 alone.<\/p>\n<p>One of victims, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/22\/us-news\/heartbroken-families-break-down-in-tears-over-extremely-rare-cancers-in-kids-in-rich-california-enclave\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">23-year-old <\/a>Lily Dalton, passed away after a courageous battle with the disease in January \u2014 a tragedy that left her father Brian Dalton asking, \u201cWhy are so many young children and adults developing incredibly rare cancers in the same community?\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Ewing Sarcoma victim, Lily Dalton, who passed in January at 23. <span class=\"credit\">GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Haven Keetch, from Orange County, lost her leg after battling synovial sarcoma, an aggressive soft tissue cancer. <span class=\"credit\">Facebook\/@haven.keetch<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The disease is extremely rare in the United States, impacting less than 1,000 people across the country every year. Pictured: Haven wearing her prosthetic leg. <span class=\"credit\">Instagram\/@havenkeetch<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Many residents have blamed the cluster on the heavy use of pesticides and herbicides in Ladera Ranch, but no definitive connection has been established. Unfortunately, attempts by residents to find out what went awry have been repeatedly \u201cstonewalled\u201d by local officials, attorney and resident Jackie French previously told The California Post.<\/p>\n<p>To get to the bottom of the scourge, Los Angeles\u2019 top federal prosecutor Bill Essayli called on EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to investigate if environmental factors could be driving it, and if any federal laws have been violated.<\/p>\n<p>However, for now, the so-called cancer cluster remains a mystery.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is it?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Heartbroken families break down in tears over the rare cancer cases in Ladera Ranch. <span class=\"credit\">NBC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ewing Sarcoma is a rare and aggressive cancer that originates in the most commonly in the bone, although it can arise in soft tissue as well, <a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/diseases\/21752-ewings-sarcoma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the Cleveland Clinic.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It can originate from the \u201cbones of the pelvis or the ribs or the femur, the long bone and the leg, but it can arise anywhere and I\u2019ve seen it anywhere, everywhere,\u201d Dr. Noah Federman, director of the pediatric sarcoma program at UCLA, told The California Post. Federman served as primary oncologist for many of the cases in Ladera Ranch and has had firsthand experience of its horrors.<\/p>\n<p>According to the doc, the Sarcoma is caused by a \u201cgenetic rearrangement of these cancer cells, which most commonly are two genes coming together on two separate chromosomes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Often developing during puberty when the bones are growing, the disease reportedly primarily affects people aged between 10 and 20.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis disease sort of spans ages from childhood through adulthood,\u201d said Federman. \u201cThe most common age that we see patients is in adolescents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, it is nonetheless exceedingly rare, affecting just 200 children and teens each year, the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/cancer\/types\/ewing-tumor\/key-statistics.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> cancer.org.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is it insidious?<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lily Dalton underwent major liver surgery to remove the cancerous mass and her gallbladder,  but doctors found three additional tumors during the procedure. <span class=\"credit\">GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption> Lilly Dalton. <span class=\"credit\">GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ewing Sarcoma is so insidious because of the young demographic, making its symptoms \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/ewing-sarcoma\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20351071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pain, swelling and tenderness<\/a> near the affected area \u2014 easy to mistake for the childhood sports injuries. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say the majority of the patients that I\u2019ve seen are young adults in the prime of their life, they\u2019re also athletes,\u201d said Federman. \u201cThe most common complaint of patients is, \u2018Oh, my leg is sore. It\u2019s been sore for weeks and I got hit by a soccer ball or a baseball or somebody tackled me.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, there are some telltale red flags, including severe pain that persists and occurs at night, and is accompanied by a mass at the site. Meanwhile, other symptoms include bone breaks without injury and paralysis in arms and legs if the tumor compresses the spinal chord. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>By the time the ailment is diagnosed, it\u2019s often too late. Federman labeled Ewing Sarcoma a \u201chighly aggressive\u201d and \u201cmalignant\u201d cancer with the capacity to metastasize to \u201cother parts of the body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most common locations for spread are the lungs and other bones, but it can also spread to the bone marrow and lymph nodes and rarely to the liver and the brain and other sites,\u201d the oncologist explained.<\/p>\n<p>Once the disease has spread, the prognosis is \u201cvery poor\u201d \u2014 only 20 to 30% of those patients will be long-term survivors, according to Federman. Meanwhile, the affliction is usually fatal for those who\u2019ve had the disease recur after treatment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cannot express how difficult a job this has been because especially as you\u2019re treating those patients that are recurrent and have metastatic disease,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Risk factors<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Brody Matteson died in March after developing leukemia from his Ewing Sarcoma treatment. <span class=\"credit\">Obtained by the CA Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While residents have pointed the finger at pesticide use at Ladera Ranch, experts haven\u2019t found a link between environmental exposure and sarcoma the way oncologists have with, say, smoking and lung cancer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not generally considered an inherited cancer,\u201d R. Lor Randall, Chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, Davis, told the Post. \u201cIt would be premature to state that any particular exposure caused the Ladera Ranch cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the cancer expert believes the cases are \u201csufficiently unusual and concerning to justify a rigorous public health investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Determination of whether they are a cancer cluster, Randall said, would require confirmation of each diagnosis, meticulous definition of the geographic population and time period, and a comparison with the number of cases statistically expected in a similar population.<\/p>\n<p>He said that while the community\u2019s concern is \u201cunderstandable and deserves a transparent, scientifically rigorous response,\u201d the challenge is to refrain from reaching a \u201ccausal conclusion\u201d before the evidence is available.<\/p>\n<p>As a precaution, the Ladera Ranch HOA has issued a 60-day pause on certain pesticides that they use.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Treatment<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lily Dalton pictured during her treatment. <span class=\"credit\">GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Thankfully, a Sarcoma diagnosis is not the death sentence it was in the 1950s and 60s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cModern treatment combining intensive chemotherapy with surgery and\/or radiation cures a substantial majority of patients whose disease remains localized,\u201d said Randall.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Federman believes that with the advent of these new therapies \u2014 which can generally take seven to nine months depending on the regimen \u2014 they\u2019ve brought the survival rate from single digits to \u201croughly 70% \u201d in these cases.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and 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cases ravaging an elite California enclave. Since 2013, at least six children from the Orange County\u2019s affluent Ladera Ranch have been diagnosed with the rare and insidious bone cancer \u2014 with several fatalities in 2026 alone. One of victims, 23-year-old&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-lsl06i65u-1784830235153.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1784815908&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}