{ "archive_path": "archive/1788455715.053379", "base_url": "www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php", "basename": "22414345.php", "bookmarked_date": "2026-09-03 17:15", "canonical": { "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php", "dom_path": "output.html", "favicon_path": "favicon.ico", "git_path": "git/", "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.sfgate.com", "headers_path": "headers.json", "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt", "index_path": "index.html", "media_path": "media/", "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html", "pdf_path": "output.pdf", "readability_path": "readability/content.html", "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png", "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html", "warc_path": "warc/", "wget_path": "www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php.html" }, "domain": "www.sfgate.com", "extension": "php", "hash": "QDRK6D93ARRDAB21S6Y0", "history": { "archive_org": [], "dom": [], "favicon": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--output", "favicon.ico", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=www.sfgate.com" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:36.658834+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "favicon.ico", "pwd": "/data/archive/1788455715.053379", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:36.174308+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "git": [], "headers": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--head", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:37.017015+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "headers.json", "pwd": "/data/archive/1788455715.053379", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:36.667587+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "htmltotext": [], "media": [], "mercury": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js", "https://www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php" ], "cmd_version": "1.0.0", "end_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:43.642178+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "mercury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1788455715.053379", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:40.017179+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "pdf": [], "readability": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor", "/tmp/tmp5cp_sol3", "https://www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php" ], "cmd_version": "0.0.11", "end_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:40.002853+00:00", "index_texts": [ "When Dustin\u00a0Matteson moved his family to Orange County\u2019s idyllic Ladera Ranch community in 2011, at first, it seemed like the perfect place to raise a child.\u00a0Its green, open spaces and community-oriented atmosphere made it an ideal place for their 3-year-old son, Brody, to meet and play with other kids his own age. As he got older\u00a0\u2014 against his father\u2019s wishes\u00a0\u2014 he joined the Santa Margarita Catholic High School football team, becoming a proud offensive lineman.\u00a0But just before his 16th birthday, his father noticed something was wrong.\u00a0Article continues below this adBrody was experiencing much more back pain than usual and began to complain. Initially, his parents thought it was related to football practice, so they brushed it off\u00a0\u2014 but when it got worse, they began to worry. After seeing a lump on Brody\u2019s spine through an MRI, a subsequent biopsy confirmed their worst fears: Somehow, their son had developed\u00a0Ewing sarcoma, a rare tissue and bone cancer that affects about 200 to 240 children per year.\u00a0After the diagnosis, \u201cit escalated very quickly,\u201d Dustin Matteson told SFGATE. Suddenly, Brody, a budding football player, had to use a wheelchair, receiving over a dozen rounds of chemotherapy and proton therapy while battling nerve damage in his right leg, fungal infections and secondary forms of cancer. Brody\u2019s mother quit her job to take care of him, while Dustin worked remotely in the hospital as his son slept.\u201cI\u2019m going to be honest,\u201d his family\u2019s GoFundMe reads. \u201cThe odds are very long at this point, but if anyone is able to overcome this it\u2019s Brody. He\u2019s so amazingly tough and strong and his body just keeps fighting.\u201d\u00a0For a brief period, he was in remission\u00a0\u2014 but then, the sarcoma returned. On March 22, 2026, Brody died of treatment complications. He was just 17. Before his death, he told his parents that he was just glad it was him instead of his younger siblings.\u00a0Article continues below this adHe was far from the only person to fall ill at Ladera Ranch.Ladera Ranch in Orange County, Calif.Matt Gush/Getty Images/iStockphotoIn total, about a dozen cancer cases have been reported in the community since 2013, including synovial sarcoma, another rare form of cancer that occurs in the soft tissue. Just one or two out of every million people are diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. each year, which typically develops in those under the age of 30.The second-most common bone cancer among kids and young adults, Ewing sarcoma often develops between the ages of 10 and 20, usually forming during puberty in the pelvis, legs or chest wall. Common symptoms include fever, pain and swelling around the tumor, and paralysis and incontinence if the tumor is developing around the spinal region.\u00a0Studies show that it\u2019s also highly sensitive to genotoxins: chemicals or other agents that can damage DNA and chromosomes and potentially lead to cancer development.Article continues below this adIn January, Brian Dalton lost his 23-year-old daughter to desmoplastic small round cell tumor, another exceptionally rare form of cancer that carries the same Ewing sarcoma gene fusion found in other instances of cancer at Ladera Ranch,\u00a0KTLA-TV\u00a0reported. Her father told the outlet that she often spent time in the community as a child and that her family lived nearby. Another resident whose husband died a few years ago told the publication that, oftentimes, she saw employees in hazmat suits while spraying pesticides.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s so many times that I walk around and they\u2019re spraying, and I ask, you know, what they\u2019re spraying and they\u2019re not telling us,\u201d another resident, Liesl Heidt, said in a July 22\u00a0article from\u00a0KABC-TV.\"The Ladera Ranch Maintenance Corporation's (LARMAC) Ad Hoc Landscape Pest Management Advisory Committee has begun its review of the Association's landscape management practices and will continue its work as it develops recommendations for the LARMAC Board of Directors,\" Lexie McNichol, the HOA's media representative, told SFGATE in a written statement Thursday. Recommendations are expected to be shared with the Board during a September 9 open\u00a0session meeting.\u00a0\u00a0A view of a public square in Ladera Ranch in Orange County, California.Matt Gush/Getty Images/iStockphotoFollowing Brody\u2019s death, residents and California officials are demanding an investigation, a July 21 letter to state administrators shows.\u00a0Article continues below this adKatrina Foley, Orange County\u2019s Fifth District supervisor, told CBS News that 35 cases of Ewing sarcoma have been recorded in the region as of 2021, but the true number still remains a mystery. Overall, in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego Counties, there was less than one case per every 100,000 children recorded from 2012 to 2021, the outlet reported \u2014 but she said that Ladera Ranch seems to have a \u201cdisproportionate number of diagnoses\u201d compared with other areas.\u00a0Though the exact cause of the disease is unknown, families in the area have come forward with concerns about pesticides and herbicides used to maintain Ladera Ranch\u2019s roughly 4,000 acres of land. In response to community concerns, Ladera Ranch\u2019s homeowners association paused the use of the herbicide Specticle G, along with Lifeline and Atrimmec.\u00a0Indaziflam, the active ingredient in Specticle G, is one of the most common substances used to combat unwanted plants in agriculture, a June 2023 study published in Sage Journals said. According to the authors, they conducted the first study of its kind that focuses on the potential\u00a0genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of the herbicide on HepG2 cells, or human-derived liver cells. They also noted that while small doses of the substance didn\u2019t seem to have any adverse effects, \u201cit has been observed that increasing concentrations of indaziflam lead to a genotoxic effect on HepG2 cells.\u201d\u00a0Now, the California Department of Public Health is carrying out an assessment in the neighborhood as quickly as possible, aiming to complete it by fall of this year and finally identify a culprit.Article continues below this adBut underneath the $1.3 million homes\u00a0and pickleball courts lies another potential suspect: a pair of abandoned oil wells, which are now coming under public scrutiny.\u00a0Though they were never in gas or oil production, Ladera Ranch residents are concerned that they may not have been properly sealed, the Los Angeles Times reported. A newly uncovered memo in a state Department of Conservation permit also said, \u201cThis well is not to be built over without further consideration,\u201d but it\u2019s still unclear why, the LA Times reported.\u201cI wouldn\u2019t assume that the statement means the well was known to be hazardous,\u201d Karen Lincoln, the director of the Center for Environmental Health Disparities Research at\u00a0UC Irvine, told the California Post. \u201cBut I also would not dismiss it.\u201dRegardless, there are still many unanswered questions.\u00a0Article continues below this adThe California Department of Public Health doesn\u2019t know whether environmental factors can cause Ewing sarcoma or if pesticides are even linked to the disease. \u201cAssessments of unusual cancer patterns rarely identify a cause,\u201d the department\u2019s website said, and though the agency conducted a review in Orange County two years ago, it was inconclusive.\u00a0Overall, Dustin Matteson told SFGATE that state and local governments are enacting some change and \u201ctrying to do the right thing,\u201d he said. In the meantime, families and residents trying to get answers are hopeful that the findings will help shine a light on an enduring biological mystery.\u00a0Access our new app with ad-free reading, curated maps and more.GET IT NOWFor now, Dustin is maintaining correspondence with the CDPH\u00a0and hoping to gain more transparency and communication from the agency in the process.\u00a0Article continues below this ad\u201cCan we solve it? I don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe, maybe not.\u201d If they got answers that could spare families the same pain and trauma, though, \u201cit would be worth it,\u201d he continued.This story has been updated.Sep 3, 2026Ariana Bindman is the news features reporter at SFGATE, where she has reported and written features and breaking news stories for news, local, culture, travel, sports, food and politics verticals since January 2022. Her story on abandoned cars in Oakland won a San Francisco Press Club award in 2022, and she\u2019s been invited to speak on radio stations like NPR and KCRW. To submit tips, comments or cat videos, please reach out to her at\u00a0ariana.bindman@sfgate.com." ], "output": "readability", "pwd": "/data/archive/1788455715.053379", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:37.470449+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "screenshot": [], "singlefile": [], "title": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:37.462576+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "A rare disease is haunting the children of an idyllic Calif. suburb", "pwd": "/data/archive/1788455715.053379", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:37.408198+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "wget": [ { "cmd": [ "wget", "--no-verbose", "--adjust-extension", "--convert-links", "--force-directories", "--backup-converted", "--span-hosts", "--no-parent", "-e", "robots=off", "--timeout=120", "--restrict-file-names=windows", "--warc-file=/data/archive/1788455715.053379/warc/1788463237", "--page-requisites", "--user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) wget/GNU Wget 1.21.3", "--compression=auto", "https://www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php" ], "cmd_version": "GNU Wget 1.21.3", "end_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:37.399516+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php.html", "pwd": "/data/archive/1788455715.053379", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-09-03T19:20:37.026675+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ] }, "icons": null, "is_archived": true, "is_static": false, "latest": { "archive_org": null, "dom": null, "favicon": "favicon.ico", "git": null, "media": null, "pdf": null, "screenshot": null, "singlefile": null, "title": "A rare disease is haunting the children of an idyllic Calif. suburb", "warc": null, "wget": "www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php.html" }, "link_dir": "/data/archive/1788455715.053379", "newest_archive_date": "2026-09-03T19:20:40.017179+00:00", "num_failures": 0, "num_outputs": 6, "oldest_archive_date": "2026-09-03T19:20:36.174308+00:00", "path": "/article/22414345.php", "schema": "Link", "scheme": "https", "snapshot_id": "ea85ffe9-c084-4add-80cf-98acd3509270", "sources": [ "/data/sources/1788455715-import.txt" ], "tags": ",pool,war-wiki,drudge", "tags_str": "pool,war-wiki,drudge", "timestamp": "1788455715.053379", "title": "A rare disease is haunting the children of an idyllic Calif. suburb", "updated": "2026-09-03T19:20:36.174103+00:00", "updated_date": "2026-09-03 19:20", "url": "https://www.sfgate.com/article/22414345.php" }