Shay McAlister is an Independent Journalist who has been investigating the Cluster of DIPG diagnoses that have surrounded 3 counties in Southeastern Kentucky. Shay will talk about this problem and what the powers that be in Kentucky are doing about it
About this episode
Shay McAlister discusses the alarming rise in DIPG diagnoses in Southeastern Kentucky and the investigative work surrounding it.
The counties of Knox, Laurel, and Whitley, in Southeastern Kentucky have seen 10 DIPG diagnoses since 2024, an extraordinarily high number of cases in such a condensed area. Shay McAlister is an Independent Journalist who has been investigating this issue and will discuss the problems that are related to this most deadly form of Pediatric Brain Cancer, which normally sees 1 or 2 cases in the entire state each year. Shay has written 2 major articles on this issue and will be continuing her goa...
People in this episode
Host: Mark Levine
Guest: Shay McAlister
Topics covered
- DIPG
- pediatric brain cancer
- journalism
- health issues
- Kentucky
Keywords
- DIPG
- pediatric brain cancer
- Kentucky
- Shay McAlister
- health investigation
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: 2 major articles
Places: Kentucky, Knox, Laurel, Whitley
More episodes of Help and Hope Happen Here
- Josh Doud will talk about his son Jameson who was diagnosed with a Midline High Grade Glioma Pediatric Brain Cancer shortly before his 8th birthday in the summer of 2024 and his passing away from this disease less than a year ago on August 12th of 2025.
- Kelsie Wittmayer's 5 year old daughter Rosie was having fevers every few weeks in May of 2025, and these fevers went unexplained for more than 3 months before she finally was diagnosed with B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in late August
- Zach Arter and Emily Niebur will talk about the non-profit HELP 1 PERSON TODAY which Zach started in August of 2024 as a way to help fill the gaps for Pediatric Cancer patients who are going through treatment from this disease.
- Toni and Dylan Franklin will talk about their daughter Noelle who was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in May of 2024 and was only able to survive this Bone Cancer for 1 year, as she passed away in May of 2025
- Christina Stiverson will talk about her daughter Adelaide ( Addie) who was diagnosed with the very rare Liver Cancer known as Hepatoblastoma as she approached her 2nd birthday in the fall of 2015 and passed away in December of 2016
- Tristin Mercer's daughter Kinley was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Cancer in the summer of 2022 when she was 4 months old. Kinley's cancer spread very quickly and she passed away on November 12th of 2022, just 7 1/2 months after her birth.
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