DELCAMBRE — Shortly after she buried two of her neighbors — a mother and a daughter who had died of cancer within 36 hours of each other — Barbara Laviolette started thinking she needed to do something.

Laviolette and several other Delcambre residents have noticed the incidences of cancer and rare diseases are increasing in the town, especially in certain areas.

In the strip where Laviolette lives on Louisiana 14, she says “if you go from house to house, there is a cancer in every household.” She and a neighbor are the only ones currently cancer-free, she said.

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Laviolette contacted local chemist and environmentalist Wilma Subra, who advised her to start a survey of residents of Delcambre, and of Iberia and Vermilion parishes as a whole. Friday, residents of Delcambre and other locations in Iberia and Vermilion went to Vanderbilt Hall to fill out that survey.

Subra and Laviolette plan to map all the responses they get, looking to see if there are any clusters of particular kinds of cancers and diseases. From there, they hope to be able to determine what is causing them.

Subra said there are “a number of issues” that might be creating a problem, mentioning old oilfield waste sites, agricultural fields and an oil field in the area.

Waugespac Pits on Leleau road had a permit to accept oilfield waste, said Subra, but the pits have been shut down for some years.

“They made an attempt at solidifying the waste in the pits, but the waste is still there,” she said.

She also said there was “some question as to whether the waste completely solidified” and there had been some ground water contamination.

Subra said there is another site along Railroad Road that is something called “a promiscuous waste site.”

“They did not have a permit, but trucks full of oil waste dumped there,” she said. “That happened in the ’70s, but the waste is still there.”

She said they’ll need to see where what types of cancer and diseases are present to see if they can relate them to those issues.

“I used to think it was the water,” said resident Nettie Broussard, who was attending Friday’s event. “I don’t know anymore.”

Nettie’s sister, mother, brother and father all died of cancer, she said. She started making a list of local people she knew with cancer, and came up with 25 names almost without pausing.

“It’s scary to remember,” she said. “All these people, almost, are dead.”

Mary LeBlanc lives in Bull Island, near Coteau. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, which is now in remission, and her neighbor four doors down had breast cancer at the same time she did.

Resident Virginia Broussard said her mother was “afraid” to go to the doctor.

When she finally did, she found she had bone cancer, cirrhosis of the liver (and she didn’t drink) and ended up dying of renal failure.

“Where does it come from?” Virginia Broussard asked.

The survey asks the patient’s name, physical address when first diagnosed, kind of cancer (or rare disease), doctor in charge of your case, comments, and a list of other patients you know of.

Laviolette emphasized that the survey will continue past Friday’s event.  She can be reached at btlaviolette@aol.com, or by calling 685-4390 or 278-6413.

“It may not help the people on the list today, but if it helps our children and grandchildren our community will continue,” said Laviolette.