Toxic Town: Who was Shelby and what happened to her? The tragic true story, revisited

Netflix’s Toxic Town highlighted one of the landmark cases of environmental crisis. It showcased the 2009 lawsuit against Corby Borough Council by several mothers of the town whose children were born with limb deformities due to the toxic waste they were exposed to during their pregnancies.

The series is based on the true stories of several mothers. Among these stories lies the most tragic one, and that is Shelby Ann, Tracey Taylor’s newborn daughter, who only survived for four days.

It stars Jodie Whittaker as Susan McIntyre, Claudia Jessie as Maggie Mahon, Amie Lou Wood as Tracey Taylor, and several other acclaimed actors.

More on this in our story.

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Toxic Town: What happened to Shelby Ann?

Shelby Ann was Tracey Taylor’s daughter. Her tragic story of passing away just four days after being born was depicted in the series Toxic Town. During an exclusive Netflix interview with the real mothers portrayed in the show, Tracey recalled her joy when Shelby was born. She told:

"We were excited, it was going to be our first child. Shelby was beautiful, they wrapped her up and gave her to me and I pulled a bit of the blanket away because I wanted to see her face, and that’s when I saw her deformed ear."

Shelby was then taken from her mother to a special baby care unit, and while the parents called their priest to come and baptise their daughter, they were given the heartbreaking news about Shelby’s health. Tracey revealed in the interview what the doctors told her. She said:

"We think there’s something seriously wrong. We’re really really sorry but unfortunately she’s only got a two chamber heard instead of a four chamber heart, there’s blood being pumped into her lungs."

When they asked if they could operate on Shelby, the Doctors told the new parents that the chances of her not surviving the operation were 90%.

Later, Tracey’s parents were called to say their final goodbyes to their granddaughter as they decided to take her off life support. She said:

"If she lasted a little while we’d give her the chance of going into surgery and give her the chance of being operated on, knowing there’d be many more years of surgeries for her. But if she went, at least she went in our arms lovingly, and she only lasted five minutes."

Also Read: Toxic Town: Where are the real people from the town now?

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Toxic Town: Shelby Ann was excluded from the lawsuit

In Toxic Town, Amiee Lou Wood portrayed the character of Tracey Taylor, who lost her newborn daughter, Shelby.

As Tracey was grieving the loss of her daughter, another blow came in with the news that Shelby and her wouldn’t be a part of the lawsuit. In the Netflix show, their lawyer, Des Collins, played by Rory Kinnear, informs Wood’s Tracey that including her would harm the case as her daughter did not have any major limb deformities but died due to a weak heart.

It did upset her, but Tracey still helped in the case as she used to work in the factory, near the toxic waste, which resulted in her being exposed to it and harming her child.

While talking to Netflix, Tracey shared that she was proud that she could help and participate in the case. She said:

"When we were dropped as a case, it was upsetting. I still went to court, I gave my evidence, to help the other children, even though I was no longer a claimant."

Even though Shelby was also one of the victims in the case, she was excluded, but her mother, Tracey Taylor, was a part and helped in every way possible to win the case.

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Toxic Town is available to stream on Netflix.

Also Read: Could there be a Toxic Town Season 2? Speculations explored