{"success":true,"data":{"id":"bc39746a-30bf-4f09-bb65-4e0733d3cd91","title":"Horrifying effects of rare cancer killing children in elite California enclave revealed by experts","summary":"Open Health navigation Lifestyle trending now in Health exclusive details Horrifying effects of rare cancer killing children in elite California enclave revealed by experts Cancer experts have revealed the horrifying truth about the rash of extremely rare Ewing Sarcoma cases ravaging an elite Califo...","content":"Open Health navigation Lifestyle\n\n#### trending now in Health\n\nexclusive details\n\n# Horrifying effects of rare cancer killing children in elite California enclave revealed by experts\n\nCancer experts have revealed the horrifying truth about the rash of extremely rare Ewing Sarcoma cases ravaging an elite California enclave.\n\nSince 2013, at least six children from the Orange County’s affluent Ladera Ranch have been diagnosed with the rare and [insidious bone cancer](https://nypost.com/2026/07/16/us-news/federal-prosecutor-demands-probe-into-ewing-sarcoma-cases-among-oc-children/) — with several fatalities in 2026 alone.\n\nOne of victims, [23-year-old](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/us-news/heartbroken-families-break-down-in-tears-over-extremely-rare-cancers-in-kids-in-rich-california-enclave/)Lily Dalton, passed away after a courageous battle with the disease in January — a tragedy that left her father Brian Dalton asking, “Why are so many young children and adults developing incredibly rare cancers in the same community?”\n\nEwing Sarcoma victim, Lily Dalton, who passed in January at 23. GoFundMe\n\nHaven Keetch, from Orange County, lost her leg after battling synovial sarcoma, an aggressive soft tissue cancer. Facebook/@haven.keetch\n\nThe 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. Instagram/@havenkeetch\n\n## Explore More\n\n- [x] \n\nMany 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 “stonewalled” by local officials, attorney and resident Jackie French previously told The California Post.\n\nTo get to the bottom of the scourge, Los Angeles’ 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.\n\nHowever, for now, the so-called cancer cluster remains a mystery.\n\n## **What is it?**\n\nHeartbroken families break down in tears over the rare cancer cases in Ladera Ranch. NBC\n\nEwing 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, [according to the Cleveland Clinic.](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21752-ewings-sarcoma)\n\nIt can originate from the “bones of the pelvis or the ribs or the femur, the long bone and the leg, but it can arise anywhere and I’ve seen it anywhere, everywhere,” 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.\n\nAccording to the doc, the Sarcoma is caused by a “genetic rearrangement of these cancer cells, which most commonly are two genes coming together on two separate chromosomes.”\n\nOften developing during puberty when the bones are growing, the disease reportedly primarily affects people aged between 10 and 20.\n\n“This disease sort of spans ages from childhood through adulthood,” said Federman. “The most common age that we see patients is in adolescents.”\n\nHowever, it is nonetheless exceedingly rare, affecting just 200 children and teens each year, the[cancer.org.](https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/ewing-tumor/key-statistics.html)\n\n## Why is it insidious?\n\nLily Dalton underwent major liver surgery to remove the cancerous mass and her gallbladder, but doctors found three additional tumors during the procedure. GoFundMe\n\n Lilly Dalton. GoFundMe\n\nEwing Sarcoma is so insidious because of the young demographic, making its symptoms — [pain, swelling and tenderness](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ewing-sarcoma/symptoms-causes/syc-20351071) near the affected area — easy to mistake for the childhood sports injuries.\n\n“I would say the majority of the patients that I’ve seen are young adults in the prime of their life, they’re also athletes,” said Federman. “The most common complaint of patients is, ‘Oh, my leg is sore. It’s been sore for weeks and I got hit by a soccer ball or a baseball or somebody tackled me.'”\n\nFortunately, 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.\n\n## See Also\n\nBy the time the ailment is diagnosed, it’s often too late. Federman labeled Ewing Sarcoma a “highly aggressive” and “malignant” cancer with the capacity to metastasize to “other parts of the body.”\n\n“The 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,” the oncologist explained.\n\nOnce the disease has spread, the prognosis is “very poor” — only 20 to 30% of those patients will be long-term survivors, according to Federman. Meanwhile, the affliction is usually fatal for those who’ve had the disease recur after treatment.\n\n“I cannot express how difficult a job this has been because especially as you’re treating those patients that are recurrent and have metastatic disease,” he lamented.\n\n## Risk factors\n\nBrody Matteson died in March after developing leukemia from his Ewing Sarcoma treatment. Obtained by the CA Post\n\nWhile residents have pointed the finger at pesticide use at Ladera Ranch, experts haven’t found a link between environmental exposure and sarcoma the way oncologists have with, say, smoking and lung cancer.\n\n“It is not generally considered an inherited cancer,” R. Lor Randall, Chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California, Davis, told the Post. “It would be premature to state that any particular exposure caused the Ladera Ranch cases.”\n\nNonetheless, the cancer expert believes the cases are “sufficiently unusual and concerning to justify a rigorous public health investigation.”\n\nDetermination 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.\n\nHe said that while the community’s concern is “understandable and deserves a transparent, scientifically rigorous response,” the challenge is to refrain from reaching a “causal conclusion” before the evidence is available.\n\nAs a precaution, the Ladera Ranch HOA has issued a 60-day pause on certain pesticides that they use.\n\n## Treatment\n\nLily Dalton pictured during her treatment. GoFundMe\n\nThankfully, a Sarcoma diagnosis is not the death sentence it was in the 1950s and 60s.\n\nWhat do you think?[Post a comment.](https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/health/experts-discuss-rare-socal-cancer-cluster-impacting-local-children/#nypost-openweb-conversation)\n\n“Modern treatment combining intensive chemotherapy with surgery and/or radiation cures a substantial majority of patients whose disease remains localized,” said Randall.\n\nMeanwhile, Federman believes that with the advent of these new therapies — which can generally take seven to nine months depending on the regimen — they’ve brought the survival rate from single digits to “roughly 70% ” in these cases.\n\n## **Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters**\n\n**California Post News**: [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/TheCaliforniaPost/), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/californiapost), [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@CaliforniaPost), [X](https://x.com/californiapost), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@thecaliforniapost), [WhatsApp](https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb6a2IV1NCrL6q2AWq0E), [LinkedIn](http://linkedin.com/company/californiapost)\n\n**California Post Sports**[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/capostsports/), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/capostsports/?hl=en), [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@capostsports), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@CaliforniaPostSports), [X](https://x.com/capostsports)\n\n**California Post**[Opinion](https://x.com/californiapost)\n\n**California Post Newsletters**: [Sign up here!](https://email.nypost.com/#california-post)\n\n**California Post App**: [Download here!](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/california-post/id6751343487)\n\n**Home delivery**: [Sign up here!](https://subscribe.californiapost.com/defaultCAP)[](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/california-post/id6751343487)**Page Six Hollywood**: [Sign up here!](https://pagesix.com/hollywood-signup/)\n\nFiled under\n\nSPONSORED STORIES\n\n#### Shop Health Deals\n\n#### Trending Now  ON NYPOST.COM\n\n*   [![Image 29: United Cajun Navy sets the record straight on how Nolan Wells’ body was found: ‘Families deserve the truth’](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/united-cajun-navy-nolan-wells-comp.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=260&h=174&crop=1)](https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/us-news/united-cajun-navy-sets-the-record-straight-on-how-nolan-wells-body-was-found-families-deserve-the-truth/)This story has been shared 118,812 times.118,812   ### [United Cajun Navy sets the record straight on how Nolan Wells’ body was found: ‘Families deserve the truth’](https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/us-news/united-cajun-navy-sets-the-record-straight-on-how-nolan-wells-body-was-found-families-deserve-the-truth/) \n*   This story has been shared 101,218 times.101,218   ### [Ex-CNN anchor gets stunningly candid about her sex life](https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/media/ex-cnn-anchor-brooke-baldwin-gets-candid-about-her-sex-life/) \n*   This story has been shared 93,976 times.93,976   ### [NJ couple loses their two children after Jersey Shore boating trip with grandparents ends in tragedy: reports](https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/us-news/nj-couple-loses-their-only-two-children-after-jersey-shore-boating-trip-with-grandparents-ends-in-tragedy-reports/) \n*   This story has been shared 72,166 times.72,166   ### [Grim final photo shows 5 friends fishing moments before they all drowned in Ohio river tragedy](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/us-news/grim-final-photo-shows-5-friends-fishing-moments-before-they-all-drowned-in-ohio-river-tragedy/) \n*   This story has been shared 59,716 times.59,716   ### [How former tennis star’s $41 million fortune ‘vanished’ as her life fell apart](https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/sports/how-arantxa-sanchez-vicarios-41-million-tennis-fortune-vanished/) \n\n## Now on Page Six\n\n## Now on  Decider\n\nYou are viewing**1** of **8**images Previous Image Next Image\n\n## More Stories\n\n### Page Six\n\n### Decider\n\n### NYPost","source_name":"New York Post","source_url":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/health/experts-discuss-rare-socal-cancer-cluster-impacting-local-children/","url":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/health/experts-discuss-rare-socal-cancer-cluster-impacting-local-children/","author":"Ben Cost","author_name":"Ben Cost","published_at":"2026-07-23T18:19:32.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-23T18:19:32.000Z","image_url":"https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/haven-keetch-second-strain-super-134607856_0d5333.jpg","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":7,"word_count":1315,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot","language":null}}