Sad News about Tanya Angus, Acromegaly Sufferer

I've been out of the world for a little while thanks to my surgery, so I was saddened to find out only today that Tanya Angus, an acromegaly sufferer, passed away on the 14th January. She was aged just 34, and died from heart failure and transient ischaemic attack (a "mini-stroke").

Tanya Angus had one of the most severe cases of acromegaly (a.k.a. gigantism) ever seen; it was not until her pituitary adenoma (tumour) grew to the size of a grapefruit that she was finally diagnosed. By this time, the tumour wrapped around her pituitary gland proved extremely resistant to surgical and radiotherapy treatment. Her condition caused her to grow from 5'8" at the age of 21 to 7ft tall by the time of her death, and to go from 130 to 400lbs. Just last August it seemed that injections to inhibit her growth hormone production had been successful, but by October sadly her levels of growth hormone were rising once again.

She was a well-known figure in the acromegaly community for her efforts to raise awareness of the condition, and to encourage education about and early detection of gigantism among the medical profession. Anyone reading her website, or the comments sections of the various news websites which reported her death, can't fail to notice how many of her fellow acromegaly sufferers viewed her as an inspiration.