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String of Cancer Cases in California Community; Houthi Offensive in Saudi Arabia Intensifies; Maria Shriver Speaks about Alheimer's. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[09:32:48]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, what appears to be a string of rare childhood cancer cases is raising concern in a California suburb. Families in Ladera Ranch say they've seen multiple cases of Ewing sarcoma. That's a cancer that typically starts in the bones or soft tissues. A community group has formed saying they've counted at least one case of this extremely rare cancer a year since 2021, and they're demanding an investigation after some parents have lost their children to this.

CNN's Julia Vargas is joining us now.

What are you learning about this community? Because it seems it's the one that is pushing this forward, not health officials, but the community itself saying, hey, we're noticing something here.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One hundred percent, Sara. It is about the parents and the concerned families that got together and started demanding those answers. And they did get some attention, but it started with just town halls, HOA meetings where these families, after comparing some notes and realizing, wait a second, there's 200 cases of this in the entire United States, how come every year there's a kid in our community that is being diagnosed with this.

One of these kids was Lily Dalton. She was 23-years-old. A recent college graduate. She died in January after battling an extremely rare version of this cancer. She had something slightly different, but that shared the same genetic features, meaning the same gene had been flipped over as other kids in this area. Another one, Brody Matteson. He was just a star athlete. I spoke with his father. His father also played football. In speaking to me, he was just moved to tears talking about how much his son fought through this.

And it was Brody, in part, that inspired this movement in the community, Sara. It was Brody's mom taking notes, talking to other families, making the connections between these different cases. That's how they eventually got organized into this group, the Ladera Health Watch, that started counting these cases. And, of course, because of public health data privacy laws, we cannot confirm independently these numbers, Sara. But we do have from the California Public Health Department, the cancer registry is now looking into it.

[09:35:03]

They say they have counted at least 11 cases of this cancer, and they will be publishing a report later this fall.

Now, that comes after already an investigation in 2024 was inconclusive here. Now, the key takeaway speaking with oncologists and speaking with epidemiologists here is that there is no one cause of cancer. We can't say that it's the water or the pesticides or just the soil, or any kind of contamination for this yet. But taking this approach of trying to see everything that could be wrong with this community is the way to go. That's the best way. And the way that one of them described to me is just, you know, we cannot wait for these agencies to figure it out. We have to do something ourselves.

SIDNER: Yes, the concern is because it's such a rare cancer and seeing it multiple times really has these parents extremely concerned.

Are you expecting there to be an investigation now by health officials?

JONES: Yes, absolutely. So, this investigation by the California Department of Public Health and the cancer registry is looking into, first of all, if there is an unusual pattern. I know it sounds strange to hear that. Isn't there an unusual pattern? Don't we know? But at first they have to make it a statistical determination. And that involves looking at cancer cases across the entire state, Sara.

Now, for us, of course, having this eight cases or seven cases, it is a very high number, but we need to wait for this official determination in order to say if it is or it isn't a cancer cluster.

And then they will go into the second phase, which is to determine a cause. And one of the epidemiologists that I spoke to said, look, it could be that we never can determine a cause for this, especially if it is or it isn't an environmental cause. It could be just genetics. It could be a particular cluster of one kind of family with a specific kind of heritage that's in this area. Or it could be something that's in the water. It could be something that is in the pesticides that were being sprayed in here. Or it could be something that has to do with a historically contaminated site that's been closed off for years. Now, that's what the community has been looking at. And so far, all of the agencies, they're contacted, their water department, the California Environmental Department, they have said that so far they haven't found anything. So, that fight continues, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thank you for your reporting on this. It's important. Appreciate it.

All right, ahead, dramatic video of the moment a cargo ship collides with a shipping vessel. Look at this. It sent the vessel basically taking on water. People falling off. Clinging to whatever they can as the water gets higher and higher on the vessel. We'll take you there.

And seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer's, and women are bearing the brunt of this devastating disease. On World Alzheimer's Day, Maria Shriver talks to me about what women can do to protect their brain health against the disease.

Those stories and more, ahead.

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[09:42:24]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, "The New York Times" is reporting that the president held back on joining bombing operations with the Saudis against the Houthi rebels here in Yemen. The Houthis have been -- have the backing, I should say, of Iran. And they now control territory that lets them restrict the passage of oil and cargo through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. If I can show you -- show you where that is here. That's down here. The Houthis now control enough territory to effectively control passage of cargo and oil in and out of that strait. Sources tell CNN that as of now neither the U.S. nor Saudi Arabia has a clear plan to beat the Houthis back.

With us now, CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas. So, Alex, this "New York Times" reporting that the U.S. decided not to get involved with the Saudi efforts in Yemen, what might make the United States nervous about joining operations, bombing operations against the Houthis there?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, the United States would be nervous potentially about that because it could create a second strategic choke point. So, as you correctly circled there, we've got the Bab el-Mandeb in red. But what we've been hearing about for many months is obviously the Strait of Hormuz, off to the right. So, with the Strait of Hormuz still being held at risk by Iran, we were getting about seven to eight million barrels a day out of the Arabian Gulf, out of 21 million that was pre-war levels.

In response to that, the Iraqi militias, at the behest of Iran, struck the east-west pipeline that went across Saudi Arabia, and they were moving oil to the -- to the Port of Yanbu. Now, in addition to that, the Houthis broke through to the coast. This was supposed to be a Saudi-led problem in terms of dealing with it. And the U.S. still has a ceasefire with the Houthis from last year. So, I believe the fear was that if we decided to strike them, the Houthis could then hold the Bab el-Mandeb at risk, further causing oil prices to spike some 40 something days now before the U.S. midterm elections.

BERMAN: And just to give people a sense of what you're talking about here, obviously up here is the Strait of Hormuz. So much focus on that over the last six months. This is the east-west oil pipeline you were talking about. And there have been some disruptions there with bombings and destruction down near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis moving ever closer to being able to maintain control of that.

The United States has bombed the Houthis in Yemen before. How effective was that in suppressing it? And is there any guarantee that this time around, if the United States did get involved, did go more actively after the Houthis, that they would be able to suppress them? PLITSAS: So, the U.S. was successful to a certain extent, because it

at least got the Houthis to agree to stop a cessation of hostilities, and they had a ceasefire that was put in place, which then got shipping back to normal. But as we've learned from Iran over the last six months, you don't need to mine the waters to close the waterway.

[09:45:03]

You can just hold it at risk and a few missiles and a few drones striking ships is sufficient to cause major international shipping companies to say they won't transit the waters. So, even if the U.S. were to renew airstrikes there, or operations in support on the ground of the Yemeni government, he recognized government on the other side of Yemen that's fighting back, there's a chance that they could -- the Houthis could fire some projectiles and close the Strait. As of right now, it remains open and the ceasefire with the U.S. remains in effect.

BERMAN: So, one of the justifications for the United States to join Israel in going to war against Iran was to suppress the so-called Iranian proxies in the region. And there has been a success or there have been some effectiveness against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas obviously in Gaza, and some militias going around in Iraq.

But the Houthis seem to be on the rise. The Houthis, an Iranian proxy, albeit a little bit different than some of the others, they don't seem to be weaker today. They seem to be stronger than when the war with Iran began. Or is that a perception problem?

PLITSAS: No, they certainly still do possess some strength. And they were able to -- my understanding is, they intercepted Yemeni government forces communications. They were able to exploit that and break through to the coast. So, they are still an effective force there on the ground, right. And overall, the strategy, though, to deal with this, that the U.S. was dealing with Iran directly, but it was the region or the Gulf allies that were then dealing with the proxy forces. So, the Iraqi government was responsible through a U.S. facilitated discussion to disarm the Iraqi militias or incorporate them into the Iraqi army for accountability purposes. The Lebanese government and Israel got together in agreement to disarm Hezbollah. And then there was an agreement that the Saudis would lead a regional task force to deal with the Houthis. So, the U.S. focus was Iran, and the Gulf was supposed to deal with the Houthis. And that's kind of been the strategy here to date.

BERMAN: We will see what happens over the course of the next few days.

Alex Plitsas, thank you so much for being with us.

So, a strange catch for a group of fishermen as they reeled in a military drone, not a fish, a drone out of the water.

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[09:51:25] SIDNER: Millions of Americans are battling a disease that strips you of one of your most precious things, your memory. But there are new advancements to test for and treat Alzheimer's and new scientific studies that can help us prevent it. Here's a stark reality, though. More than seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer's right now. That translates to about one in nine adults over the age of 65. And it is women taking the brunt of this disease. They make up two- thirds of patients.

There is no quick fix or cure at this time for Alzheimer's. So, the earlier you act, the more options you might have.

September is World Alzheimer's Month. And with us today to discuss, an internationally known advocate whose own father suffered with Alzheimer's, Maria Shriver. She's here with us. She's an author, journalist, founder of the Women's Alzheimer's Movement at Cleveland Clinic and co-founder of the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Women's Health and Reproductive Center.

It's so good to have you here talking about this topic.

MARIA SHRIVER, AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: I was telling you, you know, this is my mother's biggest fear, and it's become mine. So, let me ask you first about how you were able to get through your father having Alzheimer's, and what lessons did you learn from that experience?

SHRIVER: Well, I'm so glad to be able to come here and talk to you about the importance of brain health and prevention, which is a new word in the Alzheimer's space.

When my dad was diagnosed, I mean, you had no choice but to get through it. And we knew very little back in 2003 -- that's almost 25 years ago, right -- about this disease, how it was caused, who got it and what to do about it. So, there were really no options for my dad. There were only how my brothers and I and my mother would get through it. And I learned a lot about working together as a family.

It's an expensive disease. It requires a lot of the family. I think that's really important to note. There are -- there is a lot of hope out there today that wasn't there when my dad -- and he was diagnosed later, as opposed to, as you were talking about, being diagnosed early today, which is where there's a lot of hope.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the reason why women --

SHRIVER: Right.

SIDNER: Are twice as likely to get this disease compared to their male counterparts.

SHRIVER: Well, this is something that I was really adamant about. And I set out to prove this point that it was women who were at the epicenter of this disease. And we did that in 2010. I partnered with the Alzheimer's Association, and to do this report, because everybody said to me, no, it's not women. And now everybody talks about women being not only two-thirds of those who get Alzheimer's, but two-thirds of the caregivers. There's about 13 million Americans who are caring for somebody with Alzheimer's and dementia, not to mention another 40 some million who are caring for other issues, other disabilities and stuff. So, we are a caregiving nation.

But why it's women, we don't know exactly. We're funding a lot of research at the Women's Alzheimer's Movement to try to understand that. It is 20 years in your brain -- I think this is really important to mention -- before you're symptomatic. So, this is not something to focus on when you get to be 65 or 70. This is something to be thinking about brain health, to be thinking about in your 30s, in your 40s, in your 50s. And we're trying to look at -- the Women's Alzheimer's Movement, we're trying to look at what's going on in a woman's life at 50. And that's definitely -- we're looking at estrogen, we're looking at the menopause inflection point, the menopause transition, trying to understand that.

But what I think is really important, which is why I wanted to partner with Eli Lilly, was to talk about brain health, to talk about Alzheimer's prevention, to talk about getting young people into this conversation and not waiting to think about your brain until it starts to sputter.

[09:55:07]

SIDNER: Let me just quickly ask you one thing, because it's something that I think all of us struggle with. How do you know between I'm, you know, a woman --

SHRIVER: Yes.

SIDNER: Menopause is making my brain foggy --

SHRIVER: Right.

SIDNER: Or, you know, do I have Alzheimer's? How do you know the difference between just normal aging and, hey, this is a real --

SHRIVER: Well, I think brain health matters. You can go on there and they talk about kind of normal aging and/or signs to look out for. Obviously, to go and visit a neurologist. You can take a blood test that's now available and you should talk to your doctor about that. You can ask friends, do you notice anything about -- am I repeating things? I get this -- I get asked this all the time. People say sometimes like, I went in a room and I forgot why I was there or, you know, and I say, well, that's different versus --

SIDNER: Forgot where you put your keys.

SHRIVER: If your keys are in the refrigerator, right?

SIDNER: Right.

SHRIVER: And I think kind of just being attentive, asking people who are in your village or in your tribe, hey, do you notice anything about me, making it a normal part of your conversation.

I have a lot of people who come to me, young people, and say, I'm noticing something is off with my mom. I'm noticing somethings off with my dad. Am I crazy? And I said, start writing it down. And if you're feeling that something is off, you can talk to your mom or your dad in a non-accusatory way, not a shameful way, but suggest, hey, maybe I'm thinking about my brain health. There's a cognitive test you can take online. Do you want to talk to me about your brain health? Do you notice any changes? Have you ever thought about going to a neurologist? That's something that I have heard Maria Shriver talking about that's a normal thing to do at 50 or 60 or 70.

SIDNER: We're so happy to have you here to talk us through it, Maria.

SHRIVER: Thank you. Thank you.

SIDNER: I really appreciate it. Thank you.

SHRIVER: I loved hearing about your mom staying active, learning languages, staying in it.

SIDNER: She's sharp as a tack. Sharper than I am. I need to go get checked out. I appreciate you coming on.

SHRIVER: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: True. True fact. I can't remember anything.

BERMAN: And your mom is -- true fact, your mom is sharp as a tack also.

SIDNER: True fact.

BERMAN: Thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

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