He said the site was vacant land until the school was built in 1967,so he believes there is little chance anything was in the ground before then, but if there is anything on site, it could have come from fill during the construction phase. "Colonia is not a mega high school. While not technically cancer, these brain tumors can grow and become life-threatening if left untreated. "We absolutely have concerns, the Democrat told NJ.com. LaTourette said during the press conference every possible link to cancer was tested. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. 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. According to United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA), radon is a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. The city of Woodbridge says it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for testing at a school that graduated roughly 15,000 people over the last 30 years. 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. Dozens of former teachers and students have . / CBS New York. WOODBRIDGE A New Jersey man is on amission to find a link between rare braintumors inmore than 60 graduates and former staff at Colonia High School, including his wife and late sister. But in 2021, his wife and sister, also. 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.. McCormac, who lives three blocks from Colonia High School,is not yet convinced of a link. Even though the cluster cases ended almost two decades ago, Lupiano appears as determined as ever to uncover the cause -- and he understands that parents who send their kids to school there now may have some concerns despite what officials tell them. 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. "Today we are very happy to announce that our extensive testing for both radon and radiation, in the interior and exterior, of the school produced no evidence of any cancer-causing hazards that warrant further investigation," McCormac said. WOODBRIDGE TWP., New Jersey -- Al Lupiano graduated from Colonia High School in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey in 1989. Market data provided by Factset. Since . ", NEWS: Piscataway man convicted of exploiting daughters college peers after moving into dorm. ", Colonia High School entrance. The environmental engineering firm T+M Associates was. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. More than 100 people who graduated from Colonia High School have developed brain cancer. Views expressed by our advertisers and sponsors are their own, and are not endorsed by NJ Spotlight News. McCormack said the town wants local and federal involvement in the investigation. Normally speaking, you dont get radiation in a high school unless something is going on in that area that we dont know, Raval added, calling for an immediate investigation. Robert Miller The investigation was jumpstarted after it was discovered more 122 people once connected to. Only 72 of the suspected cancer clusters were confirmed to have an increased incidence of cancer within the cluster. READ MORE: Former Woodbridge, N.J. resident says 65 people who either attended or worked at Colonia High School have had rare brain tumors. "I have some lingering issues. DeCillis passed away at the age of 44 from a rare form of brain cancer. Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick told CBS New York the school, which was built in 1967, was built on "virgin land" in the woods. This is terrific news for the current students of Colonia High School and their parents, who worried about their safety, along with current staff members, and is also great news for all former students who attended and staff who worked at Colonia High School.. 2023 NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Brain tumor victims urge federal and state authorities to probe possible link with school. Donavyn was a Fulbright Fellow to Denmark where she studiedmolecular nutrition and food policy. To find something like this is a significant discovery, Dr. Sumul Raval, one of New Jerseys top neuro-oncologists, told the outlet. She died on Feb. 17, 2022, at 44 years old. And it is also great news for all former students.". Ultimately, if it isnt a radiation source that is causing these illnesses, Lupiano says other tests can be done to pinpoint a cause. 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. "As previously stated, there is basically one medically proven cause of rare brain tumors like ours radiation," he wrote. DeCillis earned her doctorate of nursing practice from Rutgers Universityin 2015. "For the most part I'm pretty good today," Lupiano said. Al Lupiano, 50, began investigating his alma matter of Colonia High School in Woodbridge, N.J. after his sister died of glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive and malignant brain tumor. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Outdoors, radon disperses rapidly and, generally, is not a health issue. for 7-year-old's rare brain cancer. Out of roughly 10,000 people, having more than five dozen cases of brain tumors and cancers is far above the average. "This approach of calculating the expected number was done to provide context to . "I never in my worst nightmare envisioned ever hitting this milestone. 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. If no link is found with the high school specifically, Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, said other potential points of connection in the township will be explored, according to NBC Today. / CBS News. A copy of Lupianos list, with the names and phone numbers of victims redacted, includes some who, like Lupiano himself, graduated decades ago. Very few achieve the label, but one of them is Toms River, where the rate of childhood cancers surged in the 1990s after the towns drinking water was contaminated with toxic chemicals from two waste dumps. According to Fox News, there have been instances of both malignant and benign brain tumors being discovered in former Colonia High School attendees. It's the largest oil spill cleanup company in the United States. That decades-long stretch ended in the early 2000s, but recent. "When I looked at the email and I saw the data I just dropped. 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. Further explanation of what occurred at that high school over these decades of people being in the building, Lupiano told Fox News Digital. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. 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. He died 15 years ago from brain cancer. He had developed 'rare' brain tumor some 20 years ago. 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. According to the National Cancer Institute, "cases of cancer can appear to cluster even when there is no connection among them." 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. or redistributed. Colonia High School A cluster of brain tumors and cancer in people associated with a single New Jersey high school is causing concern. The viral TikTok video discussing the purported cancer cluster was posted Wednesday by popular personality Dr. Joe Whittington. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. If we dont find anything, we have to start looking at other potential candidates, whether its chemicals or something in the soil or air. He's looking for a place to host the screenings in early June and says he's had trouble working with local officials to find one. "The rates are actually consistent in New Jersey with the United States," McGreevy said. More recently, a 1999 graduate died in 2016 of a head/neck tumor, while a 1998 graduate was diagnosed in 2014 with astrocytoma, a cancer of the brain stem. "While we have not yet determined if any contaminant is present, the only link up to this point is that everyone spent a significant amount of time at the school," Lupiano wrote in his Facebook post. 94 people from Colonia High School in Woodbridge, New Jersey are part of a cancer cluster of still unknown origin. He initially found 15 people, allColonia High School graduates from around 1975 to 1995, had them, he said. He went on to recover from the disease. 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. Jason Wisinski, who lost his wife and sister-in-law, both Colonia High alumnae, to . To confirm a true cancer cluster, epidemiologists must establish that there's a greater number of cancer cases than would be expected in a given population, based on their specific characteristics such as age, sex and geography, at a given time, Platz said. It's due to concerns tied to graduates or staff members with brain tumors. "It was clearly alarming enough that it merited further attention and I just helped him get that attention. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Unlike lab experiments, which can be tightly controlled, epidemiology and public health studies are often based on observations; as such, the answers can be incomplete or unsatisfying, Platz said. He believes something at the high school in one of the more suburban and affluent sections of the township is responsible for dozens of brain cancer cases. Its not air. His condition was rare, but he was successfully treated. Im doing this not only for my wife, my sister my nieces are currently in the school but this deserves further understanding. Now, he's gone public with the suggestion that Colonia could be one such site. Al Lupiano was diagnosed with a "very rare" and abnormally large brain tumor in 1999 when he was 27 called Acoustic Neuroma. His sister Angela Decillis. Glioblastoma is an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord, according to the Mayo Clinic. "They're the only ones with the authority to do something," Lupiano told CBS2's Kevin Rincon. We do not believe that there is cause for any further testing, he said. I will not rest until I have answers, Lupiano, 50, declared in an interview with NJ.com and the Star-Ledger on Thursday. For the past two decades, he's spoken with other victims, comforting them on message boards and Facebook. "Both parents of children in school and current teachers and staff deserve answers. Al Lupiano is a Colonia High School graduate and environmental scientist who was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. Lupiano's sister, however, another Colonia alumnus, recently died from brain cancer -- and MyCentralJersey.com reports brother Al promised her before she died that he'd find out why the tumors were occurring in the specific community. The work will be done in cooperation with Woodbridge School District. Most radon exposure occurs inside homes, schools and workplaces. In August 2021, DeCillis received her diagnosis of Grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive, rare, and deadly form of brain cancer. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. After his sister's death in February, Lupiano became convinced of a link between the Colonia. Researchers at Rice University are hoping to begin human clinical trials on a cancer treatment that fights the disease right at the site of the tumor. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. And we don't have the same major risk factors for brain cancer as we do for common cancer types, Platz said. Lupiano told NJ Spotlight News that the school is located less than 12 miles from the Middlesex Sampling Plant a site that was used, under the direction of theManhattan Project, to crush, dry, store, package and ship uranium ore for the development of the atomic bomb. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. For now, radiation levels in and around the school are being monitored in a two-week test that began on April 9 by a private contractor hired by the municipality. Its not contaminated water. McCormac has also reached out toU.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J 6th District. More than 100 former Colonia High School students and staff have been diagnosed with brain cancer over a 30-year period. The question is why? Earlier this year, 1989 Colonia High School graduate Al Lupiano developed a list of more than 120 people who were students, teachers or staff members at the school from the 1970s to 1990s. To his knowledge, there was nothing remotely dangerous at the site. He has reached out to the state Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for help which is reportedly still in the early stages, according to the CBS News report. Starting this weekend, various radiological assessments will be conducted across the schools 28-acre campus, including the testing of indoor air samples for radon. 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Laumbach argued that thousands of suspected cancer clusters throughout the country dont meet federal government standards for that designation even if they are investigated by public health experts. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, I make $80k selling nudes to pay for cancer treatment men love bald look, Jimmy Carters niece says former president still has some time in him, Experts say youve been storing potatoes wrong this whole time and shut down cancer rumors, Joe Exotics doctors suspect he has bladder cancer but hes refusing treatment: report. (For example, smoking increases a person's risk of lung cancer.). Phillips had surgery to remove the tumor on March 3 and entered physical, occupational and speech therapy soon after. My wife had a 30-millimeter acoustic neuroma," Lupiano said. 100 stories of shock and disbelief with the diagnosis. 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. According to NJ Spotlight News, McCormac has been contacted by at least five agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New Jersey Department of Health. Rob Laumbach, a Rutgers University professor of public health. "We continue receiving lip service, that we're here to help, but when we look around, they are nowhere to be found.". Cancer diagnosis: Detection, testing and research, Parasite found in cat poop linked to higher brain cancer risk in humans, Once-dreaded poliovirus could treat brain cancer. "It's too important. So far, more than 2,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding, in part, students return to remote learning. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. "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. In other words, they will need to prove by statistical analysis that more Colonia staff and graduates developed brain cancer than people with their same characteristics (age, sex, location) over the same time. Angela M. DeCillis, a Colonia High School graduate, Class of '95. His wife Michelle graduated in 1991. Al Lupiano, his wife Michele, and his sister Angela DeCillis all graduated from CHS between 1989 and 1995. He, his wife and sister were among those who were diagnosed with brain tumors. An affiliate commission 17, 2022, at 44 years old colonia high school brain cancer graduated from High. And cancers is far above the average Lupiano was diagnosed with brain being. And exclusive reporting Dr. Sumul Raval, one of New Jerseys top neuro-oncologists, told outlet! Stated, there was nothing remotely dangerous at the age of 44 from a rare form of tumors! 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