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Plaintiffs Timeline

12/13/2007

A timeline of developments and events for the plaintiffs in the McCullom Lake lawsuits.

1992

Sandra Kemmerer, who grew up on the McHenry side of McCullom Lake, is diagnosed at age 40 with benign meningioma.

1993

• Lance Kuhns, who grew up across the street from Kemmerer, undergoes surgery at age 39 for oligodendroglioma.

1995

• Kenneth Betts Sr., who grew up in Ringwood and lived in McCullom Lake for 10 years, dies in April at age 63 from glioblastoma multiforme. He formerly owned The Cullom Knoll restaurant in the village, and leaves behind a wife and five grown children.

1996

• Susan Kalash, who visited her in-laws in McCullom Lake every weekend and holiday for 23 years, dies in October at age 42 of glioblastoma multiforme. One of the homes the in-laws occupied was once owned by fellow brain cancer victim Franklin Branham. Kalash leaves behind a husband and two grown children.

1998

• Shelby Mazzone, a 25-year resident of McCullom Lake now living in Fort Collins, Colo., is diagnosed at age 44 with a schwannoma, a benign nerve tumor near her right ear. She used to live in the same home as brain cancer victim Judith Weisheit, and babysat at the home of victim Julianna Mass.

2002

• Irene Suchor, a resident of McCullom Lake since 1969, gets a liver transplant after being diagnosed with cryptogenic cirrhosis. She does not have hepatitis and does not abuse alcohol.

• Scott Milliman undergoes surgery for oligodendroglioma in July at age 41. The Crystal Lake resident had patrolled the McCullom Lake area as a McHenry County Sheriff’s deputy since 1997, and routinely drank from area and defendants’ wells as part of his bodybuilding regimen.

• Michael Smulski, who lived on the west side of the lake, undergoes surgery in April for meningioma at age 52.

2004

• Franklin Branham, a 30-year resident of McCullom Lake, dies in June at age 63 of glioblastoma multiforme, one month after his diagnosis. He leaves behind a wife and five grown children.

• Brian DiBlasi, of Cary, undergoes surgery at age 44 for oligodendroglioma. He grew up on the McHenry side of McCullom Lake and routinely visited McCullom Lake village.

• In December, Branham’s next-door neighbor, Bryan Freund, is diagnosed at age 43 with oligodendroglioma.

• Kemmerer’s meningioma returns.

2005

• Freund’s other next-door neighbor, Kurt Weisenberger, is diagnosed in January at age 63 with oligodendroglioma.

• Patrick Kane, who grew up on the McHenry side of the lake and grew more than 7 feet tall due to a pituitary tumor, dies in October at age 51 from cancer. He leaves behind a wife and five adopted sons.

• Robert Nelson is diagnosed in October with a pituitary gland tumor at age 47. Now living in San Jose, Calif., Nelson spent the first 28 years of his life in McCullom Lake and its surroundings.

2006

• Cynthia DePaepe, of Muscatine, Iowa, undergoes surgery in March at age 42 for a hemangioblastoma in her left cerebral hemisphere. She had lived in McCullom Lake at two neighboring addresses between 1983 and 1996.

• Nichole Baird is diagnosed in April at age 36 with two pituitary gland tumors. She had lived in McCullom Lake from 1990 to 1996.

• The first lawsuits – Weisenberger’s, Freund’s and a class-action lawsuit – are filed April 25. Branham’s widow files suit three days later.

• Judith Weisheit, a former McCullom Lake resident living in Ringwood, undergoes surgery in April at age 64 for glioblastoma multiforme.

• Sandra Wierschke undergoes surgery in May at age 44 for glioblastoma multiforme. She has lived in the village since 1994. She files suit May 26, along with Milliman and Weisheit.

• DePaepe and DiBlasi file suit July 20.

• John Stepp, a 20-year McCullom Lake resident who lives across the street from the former home of the Branham and Kalash families, undergoes surgery in September for glioblastoma multiforme at age 54. He files suit Oct. 10, along with Baird, Nelson, and Patrick Kane’s widow.

• Freund’s oligodendroglioma relapses.

• Julianna Mass, a 40-year resident of McCullom Lake, undergoes surgery in November for glioblastoma multiforme at age 67. She files suit Dec. 1, along with Kuhns and Betts’ widow.

• Susan Kalash’s widower files suit Dec. 21.

2007

• Weisheit dies in February of glioblastoma multiforme at age 65. She leaves behind a husband and two grown children.

• Mazzone files suit March 27.

• Lance Kuhns’ oligodendroglioma relapses.

• Judith Roszak, who visited the McHenry side of the lake several times a week for decades to care for her elderly parents, dies in April from glioblastoma multiforme at age 69. She leaves behind four grown children.

• Suchor files suit June 7.

• Marion Kane, Patrick Kane’s mother, undergoes surgery for glioblastoma multiforme in September at age 74. She files suit Oct. 1., as does Roszak’s brother, and meningioma victims Kemmerer and Smulski. Marion Kane passes away on Dec. 15.

SOURCES: Plaintiffs’ lawsuits, Northwest Herald archives

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