Mysterious high school has more than 100 former students and staff with brain cancer

A man in the US has had a brain tumor since he was 27 years old, both his wife and sister also suffered from a rare brain cancer. After more than 30 years, the mystery of the disease's cause was unraveled when former students and staff from the same high school contacted him.

According to Foxnews, in 1999, at the age of 27, Mr. Al Lupiano was diagnosed with a 'very rare' brain tumor and unusually large for a person his age, a condition called a brain tumor. Acoustic Neuroma (AN). In the summer of 2021, Mr. Lupiano's wife and deceased sister were also diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer on the same day.

In a Facebook post, Mr. Lupiano explained that his wife was also diagnosed with an unusually large AU, and his sister was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), The rate of occurrence is 30 people / 1 million people. Mr. Lupiano has been updating this post since 7/3.

Mr Lupiano said: 'The neurologist who diagnoses them has been recognized by the World Federation of Neurological Societies as a global leader in neurosurgery, having treated and involved tens of thousands of cases. brain tumor in his career. He said that my wife and I may be the first documented case of both husband and wife having AN cancer. Both tumors are roughly the same size and are on the same side of the head… According to him, the odds of that happening could be 1 in a billion'.

Mr Lupiano added: 'It's an understatement to say he was worried when he found out the three of us grew up in the same neighborhood. Why? There is a well-documented cause of brain tumors – radiation exposure.'

Finally, Mr. Lupiano found a common connection between himself, his wife and sister: In the 1990s, they both attended Colonia High School, in Woodbridge, New Jersey, USA.

However, at first Mr. Lupiano wasn't sure high school had anything to do with his rare brain cancer, until he urged others who had attended Colonia to contact him on Facebook. On April 11, he received word from more than 100 former students of Colonia High School, all of whom had been diagnosed with a rare cancer.

Mr. Lupiano updated in his Facebook post: 'Sunday, April 10 at midnight, I recorded the 100th patient with a primary brain tumor. In my worst nightmare, I never imagined that 100 people's lives have been changed since then; 100 families have been informed of this terrible news; 100 stories of shock and skepticism about the diagnosis. I pray we can find out… (As of 11/4 at 6pm, there are 102 people on the list.)

In an earlier update, Mr Lupiano revealed that many of the people who contacted him about their brain cancer cases 'are former teachers and school staff who do not live in Colonia, they only work in school.'

Lupiano is an environmental scientist who has tested soil samples for toxins during his work and thinks the school grounds may be contaminated, according to NJ Spotlight News.

Through the efforts of Mr. Lupiano and others, the mystery is gradually being solved.

Colonia High School was built on 28 acres in 1967. In the year it was built, less than 19 kilometers away, about a 15-minute drive away, a factory called the 'Middlesex Sampling Factory' (Middlesex Sampling Plant) had to close. Between 1940 and 1967, the plant received uranium, thorium and beryllium ores for processing, the same year Colonia High School was built.

According to the New York branch of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the plant was once a receiving point for Africa's uranium ores, which were 'imported for use in nuclear energy programs during the period. USA, tested at the Middlesex Sampling Plant and then shipped to other locations for processing.'

The Army Corps of Engineers explains on its website that after the plant closed, it was 'decontaminated to standards in effect at the time', apparently despite being 'missed in the decontamination process. contamination is traces of radioactive materials that have been carried outside over the years by wind and rain to neighboring yards'

According to NJ Spotlight, it is possible that soil from the plant was transported to Colonia High School during construction in 1967 and caused cancer among students and staff who were exposed to long-term radiation.