Michele M. Vercoski, a partner of McCune Law Group, is investigating the potential link between the rare brain tumor and many former Colonia High School students out of the MLG's office in Newark, New Jersey. McCormac and Lupiano are waiting to hear back from the EPA. After his sister passed away, Lupiano wrote a lengthy Facebook post as well as an article in a local newspaper in March, asking for people in the area for help in reporting cases of brain tumors. Dating back decades, newly detailed reports of more than 100 cases of brain tumors among former students and staff at Colonia High School in Woodbridge have raised obvious concerns. While benign, treatment can leave victims with hearing loss, trouble balancing, and several other serious symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic. DeCillis passed away at the age of 44 from a rare form of brain cancer. A majority of former students of Colonia High School developed glioblastoma, a rare brain tumour. This is definitely not normal.. The canisters do not poseany danger and do not emit any substance, and are routinely used in homes, businesses and schools to collect radon measurements, township officials said. The cause hasn't been discovered yet, but some researchers suspect . Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story. More than 100 former Colonia High School students and staff have been diagnosed with brain cancer over a 30-year period. Rob Laumbach, a Rutgers University professor of public health. By that time, we hope the federal agencies are going to take over. Notably, brain cancer is rarer than other cancers. Like 6 Comments |. Last year, his sister who also went to the school found out she had a primary brain tumor, which turned out to be stage 4 glioblastoma, he told CBS New York. And all three were diagnosed with rare forms of brain cancers or tumors on the left side of their brains. Since starting his research, Lupiano said that number has increased to about 90 people, including about 10 who were school staff members, some who worked in the cafeteria and others from the athletic department. Al Lupiano, an environmental scientist, began investigating Colonia High School in Woodbridge when he realized several people who attended the school had rare tumors just like he had. I dont think this is the end of the story. There's no proof yet that anything at CHS is the cause. An MRI revealed Michele had a 30-millimeter acoustic neuroma, another raretype of brain tumor that develops on the nerves leading to the inner ear. Find your municipality in this alphabetical list to see how its average property tax bill for 2021 compares to others. 'It can't be a coincidence': Colonia High School community probes mysterious cancer cases, Piscataway man convicted of exploiting daughters college peers after moving into dorm, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Robert Miller The investigation was jumpstarted after it was discovered more 122 people once connected to. In a mysterious story, a man from New Jersey named Al Lupiano found out that 100 people with uncommon cancers were linked to Woodbridge Township School District, Colonia High School. Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas has the latest as 100+ have been diagnosed with rare brain tumors from Colonia High School in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Colonia High School is now the subject of radiation detecting. Because cancer clusters are often suspected in very small subpopulations like neighborhoods, apartment buildings or homes on the same side of the street they can be very difficult to establish, Platz said. Its not something in soil. ", NEWS: Piscataway man convicted of exploiting daughters college peers after moving into dorm. Lupiano began researching to see if other Woodbridge friends and family members had been diagnosed with brain tumors. Brain cancer is rare, being detected in about one in 15,000 . Al Lupiano is among the 94 former staff and students from Colonia High School in the Woodbridge Township School District who have been stricken by the devastating diagnoses in recent years. Lupiano was diagnosed with a brain tumor back in the late 1990s, at the age of 27. 55, for example, died from glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor, in 2016 after graduating in 1981. Market data provided by Factset. He thinks the cases stem from contaminated soil, but there's no data to prove that at this point. If it's an ongoing issue, we may have to go through this all over again in 10 to 20 years. More than 100 former Colonia High School students and staff over a 30-year period have been diagnosed with cancer and local parents say the information they're getting on the investigation. Last summer, Lupiano's wife and now-deceased sister were diagnosed with rare brain tumors on the same day. 100 stories of shock and disbelief with the diagnosis. And it is also great news for all former students.". After his sisters death in February, Lupiano became convinced of a link between the Colonia campus and the brain cancers that he, his wife and his sister had developed. Donavyn Coffey is a Kentucky-based health and environment journalist reporting on healthcare, food systems and anything you can CRISPR. Last month, he started a Facebook group asking locals whether they knew of any other people associated with the school who had been stricken by similar diagnoses. They have a lot more resources at their disposal. Lupiano was diagnosed with a rare and abnormally large brain tumour Acoustic Neuroma (AN) in 1999 when he was just 27 years old. (Gosselin Funeral Home) In August 2021, DeCillis received . For people who graduated recently, the chances of having cancer now is much lower than those in their 70s and 80s, he said. / CBS New York. His condition was rare, but he was successfully treated. Tripadvisor names the world's top 25 beaches, three in the U.S. A copy of Lupianos list, with the names and phone numbers of victims redacted, includes some who, like Lupiano himself, graduated decades ago. Heres how it works. Knowing about the numbers we are talking about here, I think this meets every definition of what a cancer cluster looks like, he said. According to United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA), radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. "When I looked at the email and I saw the data I just dropped. 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Because I dont think its right to say theres no threat to teachers and students if you didnt take a single soil or groundwater sample.. On the exact same day, Lupianos younger sister, Angela DeCillis, another alumna of Colonia, learned that she too had brain cancer. The same day his sister was diagnosed, his wife, Michele, a 1991 Colonia High School graduate, was diagnosed with a large acoustic neuroma, a rare brain tumor which is life-threatening if left untreated. PROMISING CANCER VACCINE IN THE WORKS UTILIZING SIMILAR MRNA TECHNOLOGY THAT COMBATS COVID: DUKE RESEARCHERS. That decades-long stretch ended in the early 2000s, but recent publicity around the cases prompted an exhaustive new investigation and radiological testing at the Woodbridge Township School District building. Both his wife and sister were assigned the same doctor for treatment. He's now among the many calling on the town, state and federal government to do more. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, glioblastoma has an incidence of3.21 per 100,000. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reports claim that more than 60 former students and staff of Colonia High School have been diagnosed with a rare brain tumor called . The last case was a while ago, like 2000," Kapadia said. There has been plenty of inventions and history made in New Jersey. (Gosselin Funeral Home) In August 2021, DeCillis received her diagnosis of Grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive, rare, and deadly form of brain cancer. Lupiano began counting how many people associated with the town were effected. He went on to recover from the disease. I will not rest until I have answers, Lupiano, 50, declared in an interview with NJ.com and the Star-Ledger on Thursday. T&M Associates of Middletown and its team of environmentalists are scheduled to begin collecting data at the high school this weekend by placing radon canisters throughout the building to collect air samples, according to township officials. "I have full faith they will get to the bottom of this and they will figure out what is going on," she previously told News 4. Is it a cancer cluster or a coincidence? If we dont find anything, we have to start looking at other potential candidates, whether its chemicals or something in the soil or air. 2021 DEADLIEST YEAR IN US HISTORY DUE TO COVID-19, DRUG OVERDOSES. A look back: Al Lupiano was diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, a . Dating back decades, newly detailed reports of more than 100 cases of brain tumors among former students and staff at Colonia High School in Woodbridge have raised obvious concerns. A report outlining results is expected in about a month, McCormac said. Earlier this year, Al Lupiano, an environmental scientist and Colonia High School graduate, discovered more than 115 people who spent time at the school had a rare brain tumor. WOODBRIDGE TWP., New Jersey -- Al Lupiano graduated from Colonia High School in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey in 1989. Environmental scientist Al Lupiano is. Immediately I knew exactly what I was looking at. Im doing this not only for my wife, my sister my nieces are currently in the school but this deserves further understanding. Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. Rather than looking at all central nervous system cancers over 30 years, investigators will likely look at rates of specific types of brain tumors and how long after high school these tumors developed, she said. There could be a real problem here, and our residents deserve to know if there are any dangers, Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac said in a statement. "We're all concerned, and we all want to get to the bottom of this. That's when Lupiano started looking into the connection. "The Departments stand ready to assist Woodbridge in reviewing any environmental data it collects to determine appropriate next steps," the statement reads. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Without analyzing the data herself, Platz said shes not able to estimate how many of the 15,000 people who have gone through Colonia High in the past 30 years would need to have developed cancer for it to be considered a cluster. The school has stayed open because there's no evidenced or discernible threat at this point, parents have said district officials told them, citing reports from local, state and federal investigators. "If I was a parent with a child in the school, I'd be literally sick to my stomach thinking, is my child at risk right this second?" It is possible that soil from the plant had been trucked to Colonia High School during its construction in 1967, NJ Spotlight reported. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Only 72 of the suspected cancer clusters were confirmed to have an increased incidence of cancer within the cluster. Most radon exposure occurs inside homes, schools and workplaces. Landolfi and others said theres not enough evidence to support fears that the illnesses were caused by exposure to high levels of radiation, with one theory that the cause may have been a rock containing uranium used in a science lab. The discovery of the possible link between the school and the brain tumors is so new that it hasn't yet been verified by any agency, and the testing being done there is just part of the effort to figure out the true extent of the problem. But public health experts are cautioning against deeming the tumor cases a cancer cluster just yet. But to date we dont have any environmental factors that are known to cause brain tumors.. He initially found 15 people, allColonia High School graduates from around 1975 to 1995, had them, he said. And he said New Jerseys Department of Health has been similarly noncommittal. She died on Feb. 17, 2022, at 44 years old. World News Posted by Amit Chaturvedi Updated: April 15, 2022 12:33 pm IST. "However, I still think we need to expedite the next phase of testing including water, soil, and air, to determine if more than one contaminant is present," he said. Whittington a board-certified MD in California claimed several of the brain tumours developed by ex-Colonia High staff and students are glioblastoma multiforme an aggressive cancer which spreads to brain tissue. He, his wife and sister were among those who were diagnosed with brain tumors. NEW JERSEY - A New Jersey man has uncovered a medical mystery apparently linking more than 100. Phillips had surgery to remove the tumor on March 3 and entered physical, occupational and speech therapy soon after. I've tried to give back over the last 20 years.". Lupiano eventually arrived at a single linking factor between himself, his wife and his sister: they each attended Colonia High School in Woodbridge in the 1990s. "This approach of calculating the expected number was done to provide context to . Lupiano said. How will officials determine if a true cancer cluster exists? Environmental scientist Al Lupiano tells NBC4 New . Colonia High School Officials conduct a radiological survey on the school's baseball field. Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick told CBS New York the school, which was built in 1967, was built on "virgin land" in the woods. Colonia High School is now the subject of radiation detecting research. COLONIA, N.J. 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