David Neel's Medical/Burial Costs for wife Lina
Donation protected
Lina Shehu Neel passed away in early April after a four-year struggle with cancer. In the time she was being treated, she continued to pursue her career of teaching ESL, first at several community colleges in and around Seattle (SCC, SSCC, NSCC, and Edmonds CC). She then was hired, in 2017, for a tenure-track job at Big Bend Community College. She followed this by landing her dream job, a tenure-track position teaching ESL at Green River College in September of 2018. Her third round of experimental clinical trial treatments began to fail in late 2018, and she entered hospice care in February 2019. In addition to her continued professional development, she also, in the years after her diagnosis, wrote a novel, wrote a memoir, and co-wrote a series of short stories featuring talking versions of her cats going on adventures and solving mysteries.
In 1995, Lina arrived in Seattle from Kosova at the age of 16. Behind her, she left a turbulent situation that later evolved into full war and devastation. She graduated from Ingraham High, and started working at Georgia's Greek Restaurant on 85th and also later as a coffee barista. In 1999, Lina volunteered as a translator for refugee families hosted in Washington and taught Albanian at Fort Lewis to soldiers who would deploy to Kosova. Her last barista gig was at Caffe Fiore, especially in the Sunset Hill store, where she worked through college. She finished a degree in Germanics at the University of Washington in 2012 and went on to earn her Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL) in Monterey, CA, at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Monterey is also where she developed her deep love of cats, befriending (and welcoming into her apartment!) Old Woman, Moonie, Scrawny, and Snickers. Lina married David in summer of 2013, halfway through her graduate program, on a sunny day in Sunset Hill Park. When she moved back to Seattle in 2014, she immediately began volunteering with the Seattle Humane Society, especially in the shelter/adoption portion of the Issaquah Petsmart. She also remained active in helping her home country, especially by working with Kosova Pet Rescue, an organization tackling the dire situation for stray animals in Kosova. Lina and her friends helped to fund the shelter and care of dogs and contributed to the effort to find adoptive families for them. Her example was inspiring for many others that joined this humane activity, and though there is still work to do, the situation is much better than it was thanks to her.
Incredibly brave in the face of a dire diagnosis, wildly funny with an unforgettable hearty laugh, a great lover of coffee and apple fritters... we inhabit now a diminished world.
The purpose of this GoFundMe is to help raise $18,000 to cover the medical and burial expenses that have accrued over the last year. If donations exceed the cost of medical and burial expenses, additional funds will be donated to cancer research. We appreciate anything you can contribute to help ease the financial burden on Lina's family in this difficult time.
In 1995, Lina arrived in Seattle from Kosova at the age of 16. Behind her, she left a turbulent situation that later evolved into full war and devastation. She graduated from Ingraham High, and started working at Georgia's Greek Restaurant on 85th and also later as a coffee barista. In 1999, Lina volunteered as a translator for refugee families hosted in Washington and taught Albanian at Fort Lewis to soldiers who would deploy to Kosova. Her last barista gig was at Caffe Fiore, especially in the Sunset Hill store, where she worked through college. She finished a degree in Germanics at the University of Washington in 2012 and went on to earn her Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL) in Monterey, CA, at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Monterey is also where she developed her deep love of cats, befriending (and welcoming into her apartment!) Old Woman, Moonie, Scrawny, and Snickers. Lina married David in summer of 2013, halfway through her graduate program, on a sunny day in Sunset Hill Park. When she moved back to Seattle in 2014, she immediately began volunteering with the Seattle Humane Society, especially in the shelter/adoption portion of the Issaquah Petsmart. She also remained active in helping her home country, especially by working with Kosova Pet Rescue, an organization tackling the dire situation for stray animals in Kosova. Lina and her friends helped to fund the shelter and care of dogs and contributed to the effort to find adoptive families for them. Her example was inspiring for many others that joined this humane activity, and though there is still work to do, the situation is much better than it was thanks to her.
Incredibly brave in the face of a dire diagnosis, wildly funny with an unforgettable hearty laugh, a great lover of coffee and apple fritters... we inhabit now a diminished world.
The purpose of this GoFundMe is to help raise $18,000 to cover the medical and burial expenses that have accrued over the last year. If donations exceed the cost of medical and burial expenses, additional funds will be donated to cancer research. We appreciate anything you can contribute to help ease the financial burden on Lina's family in this difficult time.
Organizer and beneficiary
Allison Henrich
Organizer
Seattle, WA
David Neel
Beneficiary