(This email is being sent to ALL addresses within Linda Tamanaha, Shannon Pinkard & Stacy Mantia’s contacts. Because I do not know each person on those lists….please excuse if this was sent to you & your relationship to the below is not appropriate.)
Hi Friends and Family
I am writing to you on behalf of the Tamanaha/Pinkard/Mantia Family to let you know of the unexpected passing of their mom, Linda last Friday. And to fill you in on a few details regarding Linda's passing. Most of you have no idea who I am and that's okay, the main thing you need to know is that I am a close family friend and that I have a deep connection and love for Linda and Eddie as well as Shannon, Stacy, Chad and their families. I just wanted to do this for them as it would relieve one more thing from the "to do" list that seems to be mounting as seconds tick by and to ease the difficulty of having to share this with you. With that said, for those of you who don't know, early last year Linda was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF); however, the doctors were not quite sure of the cause of the CHF and were running several different tests to rule out many of the common factors that are associated with CHF. When I last visited with Linda on Maui last July, she was in great spirits and was showing symptoms of CHF but they weren't bad. In December, after a complete run down of her health history and several blood draws, scans, and x-rays, Linda was diagnosed with Amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is a group of diseases that result from a particular protein, called amyloid, depositing itself in different tissues of the body. Amyloid protein can be deposited in a certain area and may not be harmful or only affect a single tissue of the body; however, in hearing the bits and pieces of all that Linda was suffering with in the last week of her life I believe, after my own research and conversations with a friend of mine who is a doctor, it seems that Linda's CHF was a result of Primary Amyloidosis; the form of Amyloidosis that is not localized but deposits Amyloids in several different organs causing them to weaken and eventually fail.
For those of you who know Linda personally, you know the type of person she is. She is definitely not a quitter and she likes to get things done without procrastinating. I am most certain that she knew exactly what she was battling. I also have no doubt that she did her darndest to fight this disease and that she was willing to do what it took to beat it. Linda had a tenacity to get the job done and get it done right, but she also had a side to her that was compassionate and fun. She loved her family and spent her life making sure that they had the best that she had to offer. When I visited with her last July, her focus was not on herself but on the minor health issues that Eddie was having, on the health issues that Shannon was also dealing with, the well being of Stacy & Wayne and of Chad. Her grandchildren meant the world to her and she took every opportunity she had to fly to Nevada to be with them....she spoiled them rotten whenever she had the chance! Personally, over the years, she has been a wonderful friend and at times a very trusted confidant.
In closing, I'd like to ask for your help. Shannon, Stacy and Chad are in need of some financial help to get home to be together with Eddie as a family. There is a great deal of sorting through different things that need to be done and a great need to just be together to travel through the grieving process. As it stands right now, they themselves are struggling financially and barely making ends meet within their own families. I am confident that there are those of you who can understand the pain and loss that this is causing and the unbearable feeling of desperation that goes with trying to figure out how to get home when your pockets are empty. I know that many of you, in the last couple of years, have heard Shannon's pleas for financial assistance to help pay down most of her medical bills and the bills that have mounted on top of those but this time I'm joining her and the rest of the family in seeking your help. First and foremost I am asking that you pray and believe. Pray and believe that God will heal their broken hearts and fill in any gaps that are there, Pray and believe that God will provide peace and comfort as each on walks through their own process of grieving and lastly pray and believe that God will provide for the emotional and financial needs of this family. If there is any way you can assist financially, whether it be a dollar or a hundred dollars, now is the time to extend your graciousness. For those of you who cannot monetarily help, maybe you have some miles stored up somewhere that is not enough to use for a trip right now but can be donated or maybe you are connected to someone who works for the airlines and is able to get a cheaper confirmed rate. Whatever you can do to help out, I know it will be a blessing and simply honor the person Linda was and will always be to her family and to those of us who loved her.
Drina Labasan
