Community Rallies to Bring Amagansett Woman Home

On Sunday, locals will band together to raise money for an Amagansett woman who is battling cancer so that she may be moved from Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson to her parents' home.

The outpouring of support is for 43-year-old Susan Mannes, an interior designer at who was diagnosed with cancer and has been in treatment in the Stony Brook University Medical Center for the past three months before being moved into hospice two weeks ago.

According to her mother, Arlene Mannes, Susan is battling sarcoma, a severe type of cancer that is usually found in children. It has plagued Susan’s internal organs including her kidneys, intestines and colon.

To cover the costs of moving Susan back home with her parents on Fresh Pond Road in Amagansett, friends and family organized a for Sunday at at . Allison Lupo, one of the organizers of the benefit and close friend of Mannes, said benefit organizers want to be able to cover insurance co-pays and an in-house nurse so Susan can spend time comfortably with her family.

“Whatever money we raise, we will try to bring her home,” Lupo said.

Susan has been close with Lupo’s family since she was about 3 years old, said Lupo. When she was 15 years old she started working at Lupo’s family restaurant, Astro Pizza.

Susan is also a best friend to Lupo’s sister-in-law, Angela Parisi. Lupo said that Lisa Mata, another one of the benefit organizers, Pirisi and Susan “were the Three Musketeers. As soon as they graduated high school they were traveling together. They did everything together.”

Pirisi said she has always been amazed by Susan’s determination.

“She decided to graduate early so that she could work so we could all go to Europe together,” Pirisi said. “She always put everything she has into everything she does.”

Susan Mannes never married or had children, though she does have a brother who lives in Florida. After working at Astro’s through high school, she decided to study cosmetology, and later worked as an esthetician, specializing in facials, and massage therapist for many years, according to her mother.

She later went back to college to be an interior designer.

Henry Hildreth, owner of Hildreth’s, said he is in touch with Susan.

“Meeting her now at Good Sheppard or at the benefit you would be uplifted and inspired. Susan would make you cry. She would make you look at your life and understand that life is not only short but you should be happy with what you have.”

He said she is enthusiastic about coming back to work.

“She was always excited to come to work and always had a smile on her face,” he said.

Lupo said she decided to organize the benefit after Arlene Mannes called her upset one day. Doctors at Stony Brook had decided there was nothing more they could do for Susan.

Lupo said the community came together to set up the benefit dinner, which will take place on Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. They will serve pasta and meatballs for $15 with proceeds going to Mannes medical care.

“She gives us strength instead of the other way around,” Lupo said of her friend.

"She’s got it in her head that she is going to attend this benefit. She is determined to go.”