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Provence Wine Project for PANDAS Awareness À Table!

by Carolyne Kauser-Abbott

Published September 2, 2020

PANDAS Awareness

It took more than a village to bring the À Table! concept together – Susan and Towny Manfull needed a vineyard. In August 2018, Alexandra Manfull passed away, shortly after self-diagnosing her condition as an auto-immune disease that she had coped with for several years. The couple’s grief is unimaginable, but their desire to raise awareness for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS) is unwavering. Lovers of wine, the family had lived in Provence for a while and have returned many times. Susan writes about wines and profiles winemakers for her website Provence WineZine. And, conversations start around the dinner table, which is precisely where the À Table! idea began to formulate.

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Blog Article

À Table! PANDAS ~Remembering Alex

SHUTTERS & SUNFLOWERS

TRAVEL TIPS FROM AN ENGLISH GIRL IN CALIFORNIA, IN LOVE WITH PROVENCE.

by Caroline Longstaffe
Published August 19, 2020

The COVID pandemic has consumed us all. My heart goes out to those that have lost loved ones and the debt owed to our health care workers can never be repaid. Globally the world has been tipped on its axis. As it continues to spin it sometimes feels that it will never stop, will life ever return to normal?

For us, amongst other things, we have been disappointed not to be able to travel to Lourmarin. We’ve kept in touch with friends we’ve made there and just recently I heard from Susan and Towny in New Hampshire who like us have a long enduring love affair with Lourmarin. It was wonderful to hear from them but also very humbling as reading Susan’s email I realized that however frustrating and financially challenging the effects of COVID might be, compared to the life changing tragedy they’ve been forced to deal with our problems pale into insignificance.

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Online Article

À Table! Château Barbabelle and Gérard Isirdi Come to…

by Susan Manfull
Published July 23, 2020

The above title would be (more) unwieldy if I included all the names of the friends, family, and strangers who have contributed to making the À Table! project a reality. There are many people to whom my husband and I are deeply grateful. With the launch of this project, more people can help to raise awareness about PANDAS and PANS:  purchase a bottle of the wine, made especially for The Alex Manfull Memorial Fund, invite friends and family to your table, and enjoy the wine with a meal as you help spread the word about this horrific disorder.  Raise your glass to the defeat of PANDAS and send us a photo that can be posted online on Alex’s birthday, September 7th.  All proceeds will go to further research on the causes and treatment of Post-infectious Autoimmune Basal Ganglia Encephalitis disorders such as PANDAS and PANS.

There are no words to describe how my husband and I felt when our 26-year-old daughter, Alexandra “Alex” Manfull, lost her life to PANDAS, a basal ganglia encephalitis disorder triggered by Group A Streptococcus. Devastated may come closest.  Alex was our only child and we were a very close family.

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