East Windsor residents and Hightstown High School alumni are continuing to raise money for colon cancer in honor of their friend Josh Medina who succumbed to the cancer Friday morning. 

"We will fight so no one else has to suffer like Josh," Samantha Misier, one of Medina's friends, wrote in an email Friday. 

Seven years ago Medina was diagnosed with colon cancer and this past summer it spread throughout his body, forcing him to stop working as a chef. Some of Medina’s friends, including Misier and Dana Witter, came together to try to find a way to help Medina.

“It’s a horrible disease and I’ve just seen a young guy have his life ravaged by it,” Misier said last week.

They decided to make t-shirts featuring the slogan “Fight for Josh,” to help pay for his medication, which was around $750 per month. 

“I have seen so much overwhelming support for the fundraising on Josh's behalf that a calmness has come over me,” said Alison Rubenstein, Medina’s mother, in an email.

Misier put a call out on Facebook for help designing the shirt, and almost immediately another Hightstown High School graduate replied, willing to help. The next day designer Deborah Martin had the logo ready to go.

“There is something about Hightstown High School alumni, we stick together,” Misier said. “It’s such a close group of alumni.”

With the help of Allen Bernstein from ABI printing company, T-shirts were made with most of the money going right to the cause, Misier said. The shirts are $15.

“He [Bernstein] really has gone above and beyond helping us out,” Misier said.

Matt Eglowitz, of Matt’s Window Tinting LLC in Morrisville, Pa., heard about the fundraising and contacted Misier about making a six-inch window decals featuring the Fight for Josh logo, which are sold for $5.

Donations can also be made through Paypal. For shirts, organizers ask that you include the size (Adult S-XXXL or Youth S-L) in the notes section.

But the fundraising hasn’t stopped there. A fundraiser will be held at CityStreets Café on Jan. 6 when TheGoodLife is performing. The T-shirts and window decals will be sold, there will be a 50/50 raffle and organizers will collect donations.

Some of the raffle items include two tickets to a Knicks game in the 13^th row and a window-tinting package at Matt’s Window Tinting, Misier said.

“I am so overwhelmed with good feeling about what people have done,” Misier said, noting they raised close to $2000 in two weeks.

Misier said they hope to start a memorial scholarship in Medina's name at the high school. 

Medina graduated HHS in 1993 and was a wrestler. He later attended Johnson and Wales. In 2002 he ate his way through Italy, according to his mother. She said he has also traveled to the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.  

A few years ago he lived in Florida where he was a chef at Wish restaurant in Miami Beach. He was also Executive Chef at Bar Rossa in Aventura. Two years ago Medina moved back to New Jersey.

“The reality of what is happening to Josh is devastating; however, knowing he has been and is so loved by so many people makes me proud. I wish I could tell everyone individually how appreciative I am; however, that's impossible to do. I do thank everyone who donated, worked hard, and stood by Josh for so long. Thank you all,” Rubenstein said.

This article was updated at 11:20 a.m.