Iowa became the focus of national attention earlier this year when data showed it had the fastest growing rate of new cancers of any state in America.

That's more than the Rust Belt states, where lifelong factory work, smoking rates and lack of healthcare puts locals at a higher risk for developing the disease. And more than southern states where rates of obesity, alcohol use and poverty make them more prone to the disease. 

A complex web of factors is thought to be at play - Iowa is a farming powerhouse and uses more potentially carcinogenic pesticides than anywhere else. It's also sitting on a hotbed of radioactive gas, called radon, which can leech into homes undetected and cause lung cancer. 

Residents are unwilling to accept being sickened by their home and are demanding state leaders do something about the crisis.

Sharon Kendall-Dunn, 56, and Dave Dunn, 63, live in the eastern part of the state, in a suburban town called Davenport, Iowa.

They've lived in the area their whole lives and raised their three sons, who are all in their twenties, there. 

Mr Dunn was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in early 2014. Ms Kendall-Dunn was diagnosed with a rare form of bone marrow cancer, called chronic myeloid leukemia, in November 2022.

As with many cancer cases, there was no clear cause of the disease for the Dunns - they barely drink, they don't smoke and are active people. 

Mr Dunn has a family history of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but oncologists don't usually consider it a disease that's heritable. 

When Mr Dunn asked his doctor what could've caused his disease, the doctor said simply: 'You live in Iowa.' 

In response, the Dunn's have become hypervigilant about testing the water they consume. They are particularly concerned about the presence of agricultural chemicals - pesticides, herbicides and byproducts of fertilizer - in their water.