Alone in her Buhler home, Elaine Franz is comforted by the memories that surround her in picture frames. But, if it gets too quiet, the sound of her husband's voice isn't far away.
"Each morning when I wake-up I say thank you Lord for giving me this gift of another day,” John Franz says those words in a message to his church. You can hear John’s fight with lung cancer in the video.
"The doctor said right away, it's not curable. We can treat it, but we cannot cure it,” Elaine said.
John was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2007. The diagnosis didn't make sense. Elaine says John wasn't a smoker.
"Always in good health. He was a football official, had officiated for 40 years. He was a track starter,” Elaine said.
Elaine says John, a retired teacher from the Buhler school system, turned to two colleagues. Buhler Grade School teachers Julie Wilson and Debra Spencer. Both were fighting breast cancer at the time.
"He went and talked to them right away. He needed to have some support mentally and understand what was going on,” Elaine said.
Elaine says John soon discovered he had plenty of fellow fighters among the staff and faculty. In recent years, Elaine says more than a dozen other people who were working or worked at the grade school have battled cancer. With the number of cancer cases, Elaine says many people in her community are now curious about a possible cancer cluster forming in Buhler.
"I have wondered if there's something in the school, in the air... it makes you wonder,” Elaine said.
This month, the district sent out a letter. It says the district hired "American Metropolitan Environmental" to test for any environmental quality concerns. The letter also says since 2007, Buhler Grade School has been tested twice, and the environment was found to be safe.
"It's hard to prove a typical cancer cluster because of sheer numbers,” Dr. Shaker Dakhil said.
He’s the president of the Cancer Center of Kansas. Dr. Dakhil says a cancer cluster can be confirmed three ways: there are several cases of a rare type of cancer; there are larger than expected numbers of a more common type of cancer; or, it is a type of cancer that is not usually seen in a certain group of people.
"For example, lung cancer and non-smokers. That could be a red flag,” Dr. Dakhil said.
That example would fit John Franz. But labeling the Buhler case a "cancer cluster" isn't easy.
"Scientifically, this might be hard to prove. Although, we could have some gut feeling that something is not right in that community,” Dr. Dakhil said.
Factfinder 12 talked to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment about its cancer cluster investigations. It says it gets about eight inquires about potential clusters a year. It won't say if it's investigating the Buhler cases. And, even if it found a connection in Buhler, it would not necessarily release its information. K-D-H-E says it would have to balance the public's need to know, with the medical privacy concerns of those involved in the study.
"I think there is a fine line between being cautious and throwing people into a panic,” Dr. Dakhil said.
John Franz died in 2009. A year and a half after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
"He lived life to the fullest that year and a half. We went on four or five cruises. And, we had a good year and a half,” Elaine said.
The two teachers he leaned-on died last year.
"For the sake of new people coming in, new teachers. I'd be a little bit afraid.” Elaine said.
But Elaine isn't leaving town. She's living the way John did-- without fear.
"He was a very practical person and if this is what God had in mind for him, he was willing to accept it,” Elaine said.
