"CHERAW, SC -- The ditch that runs behind Domonic Tillman’s childhood home kept him busy on most summer days.

As a youngster, Tillman and his buddies played in the water, caught snakes and, sometimes, released cheap goldfish they had bought, just to see the little creatures swim in the shallow ditch. It was a great time for a child growing up in this small, out-of-the way town near the Great Pee Dee River.

But as he grew older, Tillman developed an acne-like rash that never went away. Today, at age 31, his back is covered in the bumpy rash that’s more often associated with teenagers.

Tillman thinks he knows why he has the rash: The ditch water he played in as a child was contaminated with industrial toxins that drained from a cloth manufacturing plant nearby.

Read more here: https://www.thestate.com/latest-news/article219102250.html#storylink=cpy" [2]

Sammy Fretwell reports for the Columbia (S.C.) State September 28, 2018. [3]