Tanya Angus Giant Too Soon

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing on of our beloved Tanya Angus at 12:25 am January 14, 2013, due to her heart and TIA. RIP dear one.

Part of Tanya’s legacy is her good work in spreading the word about education and early detection of the pituitary tumor ACROMEGALY. Tanya’s heart’s desire to spread that word will continue, here.

But at the time of her death Monday, the 34-year-old Angus stood 7 feet 2 inches and weighed about 400 pounds. She was a victim of a rare disorder called acromegaly that wouldn’t let her stop growing. In children the condition is known as gigantism.

“‘Mom, I don’t know why I got it,’” Karen Strutynski recalled her daughter saying. “‘But I guess God decided that I could handle it.’”

Handle it she did — by appearing on television specials and in the news, and talking about the condition that left her face misshapen and gave her chronic growing pains.

Her condition was the result of the release of too much growth hormone caused by a non-cancerous tumor on her pituitary gland.

The disorder affected just about everything for Angus. She couldn’t pull even the largest of shirts over her head, because she couldn’t fit through the collar. She needed specially made shoes, and jewelers stretched her rings to size 20.

“There’s nothing made for giants,” her mother explained.

To visit her website and make a donation press here.