WEST VALLEY CITY (ABC4) — Four years ago, Frankie Corrigan received news that no one ever wants to hear: his wife had been diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological disorder that affects movement and coordination, breaking down and killing nerve cells in the brain, which eventually causes a shortage of dopamine.
Riddled with curiosity about the disease, the couple began to seek answers, leading them down a rabbit hole of shocking discovery about other residents from his wife’s former neighborhood.
His wife’s neighborhood, near 3500 S and 4800 West in West Valley City, is currently under investigation by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services after a “cluster” of Parkinson’s disease and some cancer diagnoses have emerged in former residents of the area. The investigation is set to provide information on what may be causing the cluster, if anything at all.
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“The more we started talking about it and immersing ourselves in the community, just talking about it in general in the community, the area where she grew up, we started to hear more and more cases [in the] immediate neighborhood,” Corrigan said…