Erika's Health - BioAbout.Me (Family Biographies) Eric Talaska

On October 6th, 2019,10 years after Erika passed, Eric learned she could have greatly benefited from an asthma alert service dog. Such a service dog could detect and alert to changes in weather, breathing, air quality, call 911, etc. Such a dog would cost around $25,000, but Leo's insurance would likely cover it.

Tobacco companies deliberately denied how dangerous cigarettes were for decades. In the 1960s, the critical decade Erika started smoking, the Liggett and Myers tobacco company devised "Project XA", a much safer cigarette. The other major tobacco companies, particularly Phillip Morris, threatened them with expulsion from the Tobacco Institute. Liggett was forced to say regular cigarettes were safe and terminate Project XA at the cost of hundreds of millions of lives including Erika's as well as extreme pain and suffering even to the day of this writing in 2019.

Erika had irreversible emphysema and COPD from numerous causes, primarily from smoking.
Erika's diet and exercise efforts were extremely poor, especially since moving to Texas / Arkansas.
Erika's feet were extremely swollen (with water) and thus heart failure was setting in.
Erika slept on her right side on a couch every night. On the left side would have been far healthier.Almost all of Erika's closest friends' health declined drastically which made her very sad.Erika's long-time companion dog Rudy died in November, 2008.
Erika was not receiving compassion, love or touching (hugs, etc.) from her family except Eric.