In The Pipeline: Cancer survivor needs help

She is extremely thankful for the good work being done by Breast Cancer Angels, an organization that steps in to help women while they go through treatment. She received gas cards, money for food and other helpful aid from them, but since her treatment is officially done for the time being, she is no longer eligible for that assistance. But through the process, she has met other women who seem to be in need of advice too as they navigate through the maze of problems created by a bad diagnosis, a bad economy and other unexpected challenges.

On a side note, Murray told me how she and many neighbors are suspicious of what role the Ascon Landfill Site in the Huntington Beach neighborhood near Magnolia Street and Hamilton Avenue may have played in what they say is a high incidence of cancer in the area. As Independent columnists Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray wrote in 2004, "Something may be seriously amiss in southeast Huntington Beach…four children from that area died between February 2000 and June 2003 of a deadly brain cancer called brainstem glioma…an exceedingly rare cancer."

While work has been done in part to clean up the area, Machelle Murray feels it may all be a little too late and that the damage has been done. On this subject, I plan on preparing a separate column in the near future to look at the realities of just how such a toxic site might affect the health of locals — others have told me their concerns too about a place that, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency, "operated as a landfill from 1938 through 1984.

Much of the waste disposed at the site in its early years came from oil drilling operations, including waste drilling muds, waste water brines, and other drilling wastes." The site adds that "from 1957 to 1971, chromic acid, sulfuric acid, aluminum slag, fuel oils, styrene (a form of plastic), and other wastes were also disposed on the site. These liquid and semi-liquid wastes were deposited into open lagoons and pits."

But for now, I'd like to keep the focus on the plight of Machelle Murray. I'm expert in none of the areas she is talking about, but I'm guessing some of you might be.

She is living below the poverty level right now and is desperate for work and advice as it applies to obtaining health-care insurance after having been treated for breast cancer.

I do not know her well but, after a couple of hours over coffee, I will vouch for Machelle Murray. She is a bright, funny and determined woman who, as a single parent, is trying to do things right so that she can take care not just of her daughter, but herself. She is also very scared that right now, the world has few options for her. This is where communities can make a difference. If you think you might have advice to share, or anything else for that matter, please write me and I will put you in touch with her.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 18 books, including the new "Hello, It's Me: Dispatches from a Pop Culture Junkie." You can write him at chris@chrisepting.com.