NEGLEY, Ohio (WKBN) – For the first time since the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, those affected held a community press conference.

Several people spoke about their experiences since the devastating day.

Below are just some of the people who have been affected.

“My name is Hilary Flint. I’m from Enon Valley, Pennsylvania. About three years ago I beat renal cell carcinoma, and now that my home has tested positive for multiple chemicals, I worry every day that it’s the thing that will take me out of remission.”

“Are the kids in the community, are we going to be safe? Right now I can’t sleep in my own bed or even spend more than five hours a week in my own home. I will never be able to play in my backyard, ever. We live at ground zero.”

“My name is Zsuzsa Gyenes. I represent East Palestine. My home was about a mile from the derailment. At the hands of negligent corporations who puppeteer our politicians, my family and I lost our home, all of our belongings and our sense of security as a direct result of the derailment and toxic chemicals.”

“I’ve lived here for 42 years and I’m a little upset… I was in the Army. The tail end of the Korean War, got called back for Vietnam. Got out and got called back to get blown up by Scud in the Persian Golf… This is nothing compared to what I’ve been through, except losing my wife… My wife died in this process too. My brother-in-law blames the rail accident. He’s a retired fireman and medic in Columbus for 29-30 years. My wife was upset, she couldn’t understand why I wasn’t upset. I got blown up by Scud, this was nothing… This is not an end thing, this is an ongoing situation for every single one of us.”

“I lived in my home, my mother and father moved in in 1979. There’s six of us, we have two animals. We were split up in the hotels, we couldn’t eat together. It’s very hard because my mother has Parkinson’s… They found a home for us. My furniture, everything we had with fabric was ruined. They told me to throw it away, the chemical just soaks into it… We’re under a mile, like .8 but the creek runs in my backyard through a tunnel and when it floods it comes up in our basement. I don’t think we’re gonna be able to go back home. I have a loveseat that was my great-grandmother’s, and when my grandma passed away she left that to me and I had to leave it. It’s been rough, it’s been rough.”

“My name is Collin, I graduated from East Palestine. I have two young boys who attend East Palestine, one in the elementary and one in the middle school. Once I graduated in 2007, I left the area for about nine years, I was in the Marine Corps. I’ve been all over the world, Iraq, Afghanistan… I decided to bring my family back to this place to raise my family, to raise my boys because I believe in the community. With that being said, after all I’ve been through, all that my family has been through, this is s*** that my family should have to go through. I hate to think in money, but I invested in this community, I bought my forever home. Now this happens to me after all I’ve been through. It sucks.”