Obituary

Alyssa Panasuk, 17

Posted

Family members said that Alyssa Panasuk “would light up a room” when she walked in. The Lawrence High School senior aspired to go into the art field, specifically animation, said Assistant Principal Roseann Murello.

Panasuk, an Inwood resident, suffered a severe asthma attack on March 31. It led to cardiac arrest. In the hospital, she never regained consciousness. Panasuk died on April 8. She was 17.

“In my 35 years at Lawrence I can honestly say that Alyssa was one of my favorites,” Murello wrote on the GoFundMe, page that Panasuk’s mother, Lorianne Panasuk, created to help defray funeral expenses. “She battled with so many things and yet never let it show. My thoughts and prayers go out to her entire family including her sisters who she loved so much, they now have an angel looking out for them.” As of press time, $11,540 had been raised. The goal was $10,000.

Her family said that Panasuk always had something nice to say and always had a smile on her face. Both her mother and father, Michael Panasuk, said they “were extremely proud of the young woman she had become.”

She is survived by her parents Lorianne and Michael Panasuk; sisters Sky-Lynn, Olivia and Gianna; and grandparents Irene and Anthony Mallazzo and Evelina and Ismael Panasuk.

Funeral services were at the Meserole Five Towns Funeral Home in Inwood on April 12. A funeral mass was held at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Far Rockaway on April 13.Panasuk was interred at Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery in Flushing.

“All will remember her big beautiful blue eyes,” her family said. “She will forever be missed and cherished.”