For those of you who know me personally,

Thank you for your cards regarding the passing of my father.  He was a great man.  To update you his death is being investigated.  He passed on March 27, 2009.  Marty Mandato's memorial website is at www.mem.com and donations towards his funeral costs are being accepted by my oldest sister at paypal accound acesmk@comcast.net .  He lost everything in the recession and there was no life insurance policy.

He was a man of strength.  I used to joke that he wasn't quite right until the last girl got married... He is survived by his three daughters and two sons, multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren, and two brothers.  He is pre-deceased by his son, Frank.  His obituary was run in the local papers of boyersville, PA and in Philadelphia PA.

Thankyou

Elaine, It's been a while since I emailed you. I just wanted to thank you for your previous advice. I wasn't successful, but maybe someone else will be and I did pass on the info to a few others in need. I really like the new background... take care --Samantha

For anyone who has been listening.... I've been able to put off his surgery thanks to a second medication.  Sammy will need his surgery, but now they are saying we may be able to wait until next summer... whew...  So  now I have a year to come up with the money.  Good thing too since I haven't had much luck.  He's doing really well all things considered.  I applied for a "medical loan", but was denied.  Ironically, now we both await surgery.  His is way more important though.  Mine is minor in comparison and is only 1/3 the cost.  Anyway, I appreciate the emails I have gotten.  Thank you

For those of you who are medically savvy- my son has a congenital heart disorder. He has a bicuspid aortic valve with root enlargement.  His valve is stenotic and insufficient.  The insufficiency (leakiness) has caused his left ventricle to enlarge.  He is symptomatic, getting tired easily and experiencing chest pain.  He is on Digoxin and lisenopril.  He is a sweet boy.  of the three, he is the first in the picture- wearing blue.

Wow. I wish I could help.  It sounds like you need to get those kids away from dad if he is the batterer.  I'm not sure I would trust his parents, I mean, where did he get that from anyway?

I wish you the best of luck.  If I think of anything that will truly and honestly help you, I'll write you again.  I'll pass your story on too. 

Wow. Reading all those posts- I'm not sure how this works.  Anyway, I am looking for money. Like everyone else here, right?  Well, I'm just trying to piece together the money I need for my son's open heart surgery. We have insurance, but there is a 20% copay.  We've been hit, like everyone else has.  My husband is laid off.  We have four boys.  I am a full time student and I work full time.  We are looking for a smaller place, trying to downsize so we can put some more money towards the surgery.  Rents have gone up and we are having a hard time finding a decent place for a good price.  Sure, we have a lot of needs, but the only one I am focusing on is this copay.  His consult is in December.  I only have two months to come up with almost 20k. I'd even work for it- don't know what I could do in such a short time that would earn that, but hey, whatever it is, sign me up. 

I hope there is help out there for all of us.  It sounds like some of you are in really bad situations.  I wish I could help you.  I would send you all a 10 dollar bill if I wasn't saving them all for my son.  I guess the idea is that if enough people just send you a little, you'll get what you need and then be able to pass it on.

Anyway, good luck to everyone.