Source: The Daily Caller
Al Lupiano graduated from Colonia High School in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey in 1989. His wife Michelle graduated in 1991. His sister Angela Decillis graduated in 1995.
All three were diagnosed with a brain tumor.
He was diagnosed 20 years ago. His wife and sister found out on the same day last August. On Feb. 17, Angela died from Glioblastoma Multiforme or GBM.
Lupiano, an environmental scientist and industrial engineer, picked up on a trend: “I had told my sister from the very beginning that there was too much of a coincidence that me, my wife and her all have the same tumor.
“I had recalled two family friends, had also passed of these brain tumors — that started setting off bells and whistles in my head.”
Lupiano started researching. He made a public plea on Facebook to anyone from the school who was diagnosed with primary brain tumors.
He found a total of 104 former students and faculty with brain tumors — about half of them cancerous.
Jason Wisinksi lost his wife Janice 10 years ago to an inoperable brain tumor called Anaplastic Astrocytoma. “My wife fought like crazy. At the time, the medium lifespan for her type of tumor was 18 months. She made it five years,” said Jason Wisinski.
Both sisters were graduates of Colonia High School. Janice’s sister Chery Black also died from brain cancer in 2015. They learned of their tumors eight days apart.
“It’s alarming because there are just so many people with a tumor – malignant or benign, and it’s serious. We have to really take a look at it,” said Woodbridge Township Mayor John McCormac.
Environmental engineering firm T+M Associates has been contracted by the township to test for radiation on the grounds of the high school, which was built in 1967.
McCormac says last Saturday, environmentalists placed random canisters inside the school to collect air samples. As the school remains open during the investigation, some students are concerned. The environmental testing is expected to last a month.
“We’re just going to wait to find out. Obviously, everyone’s praying and hoping for the best,” said Colonia High School junior Julia Pagnozzi.
Mayor McCormac says the Environmental Protection Agency is now involved.