Colonia High School in New Jersey’s Woodbridge Township has been the center of a medical mystery after over 100 people connected with the high school have come forward with a diagnosis of a rare brain tumor.

The link between the brain tumors and the high school first began to surface after local resident and 1989 graduate of Colonia High, Al Lupiano, shared his concerns on Facebook. Lupiano took to the social media platform because he along with his wife, Michelle, and sister, Angela Decillis, were all diagnosed with the same rare brain tumor, Glioblastoma Multiforme or GBM.

Lupiano received his diagnosis 20 years ago, while his wife who graduated from Colonia in 1991, and his sister who graduated in 1995 were both diagnosed in late August. On February 17th, Decillis died as a result of her brain tumor.

After being told by his doctor that the chances of all three of the family members being diagnosed with the same rare form of brain cancer were incredibly slim, Lupiano began to suspect that there was an underlying connection.

Lupiano, who is also an environmental scientist and industrial engineer, began suspecting that the high school may have played a role in causing the brain tumors because it was too much of a coincidence that he, his sister, his wife, and family friends all suffered from the same rare ailment.

Lupiano has shared with several media outlets including ABC 6 that he recalled having two family friends who also passed away because of brain tumors. As part of his research to uncover what was going on, Lupiano took to Facebook calling all graduates of Colonia High School to share whether or not they or a loved one who attended the school also suffered from similar ailments. To his shock, he received countless comments and was able to uncover that 104 former students of the high school were diagnosed with similar brain tumors.

Following the news of the discovery, the town has been gripped with concern about what the developments mean for their loved ones who attended the school. The Woodbridge Township Mayor, John McCormac shared, "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."

Lupiano’s concerns caught the attention of state health officials as well. Earlier this week, officials were sent out to the high school to test the fields and buildings for potential radiation in order to determine whether there is a link between the high school and the brain tumors. Woodbridge township is taking the lead on the investigation, but both the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency have expressed their concerns about the potential cancel cluster. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection is working in tandem with the federal Toxic Substance and Disease Registry to move forward with testing at the high school grounds.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has shared his concerns during a press conference at the state police headquarters. “We absolutely have concern,” he shared. I don't know that we know enough yet to be definitive in terms of causation etc. But I know for sure the tragedy that many lives are going through has some nexus to the Colonia High School, so that's something we take very seriously.”