Over 100 Students, Teachers, and Staff Diagnosed with Rare Cancers After Attending a New Jersey High School

Al Lupiano received a rare cancer diagnosis at the age of 27. His doctors found an abnormally large brain tumor and was diagnosed with Acoustic Neuroma (AN). His wife and sister were also diagnosed with cancer the same day; His wife with AN and sister with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM).

Since his diagnosis, he has connected with 100 other people diagnosed with rare cancers that all attended Colonia High School in New Jersey.

Lupiano’s neurologist believes that this could be the first documented case of spouses having AN tumors around the same size and on the same side of their heads. The odds of that happening “are maybe one in a billion.”

Since Lupiano, his wife, and his sister all attended Colonia High School, he reached out on Facebook to see if there were others who attended with rare cancers. Over 100 former students, staff, and teachers reached out and shared their rare cancer diagnoses as well.

Lupiano is an environmental scientist and has tested ground samples for toxic material for many years. He suggested the school be tested for contamination.

The Mayor of Woodbridge, NJ where the high school is located asked for an investigation into radiation exposure on the school’s campus. It is possible that radiation could be present at the school from a plant that imported uranium, thorium, and beryllium ores located about a 30-minute drive away from the school.

Much of the radioactive waste material was trucked from the plant to a landfill a half mile away from the school. It is also possible that waste was dumped at the site of the high school during its construction in 1967.