11-year-old Alexa Brown lost her battle with cancer Thursday morning in Clyde, Ohio.

20 cases of childhood cancer have been reported in the Clyde area.

The Ohio Health Department and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency are investigating the possible causes and links of these cancer cases.

ONN's Stephanie Mennecke spoke to EPA spokesperson Dina Pierce about the investigation.

"Its definitely a tragedy.   I think we can say it emphasizes the importance of the work we're doing in trying to find out what's going on," said Pierce.  

Pierce said this case is of the highest importance and since the beginning of the year, they've been looking at a variety of possibilities.  

The Ohio EPA has been testing air quality since January of 2009.

They're continuously testing drinking water sources, while looking into nearby business and industry emissions.  

Pierce also said they're constantly taking tips from the community.

"What we want to do is look at everything we can and try to determine what has caused this outbreak in childhood cancers.   The department of health has identified that is a higher than normal number," said Pierce.

Due to that fact, the EPA said this case is a top priority.

"If it's there, we want to find it, and we are going to keep looking and doing everything we can to do that.   We are not going to quit until we exhausted all of our options," said Pierce.

The EPA has an entire page dedicated to the Clyde Cancer Investigation.

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