This is tough to write …
Susan has begun the final phase of her life after almost 2 years of dealing with a very rare bone marrow disease—Aplastic Anemia. She is resting comfortably at our amazing community hospital’s palliative care unit. After almost 120 transfusions and endless hours receiving them at the centre, always with a smile and sharing the inner joy that is simply Susan, she decided that it was time to begin her next journey — where I am sure that there is an eternal supply of stuff to pick and beads to string and people to bring joy to. I am posting this so that the thousands of her friends and fans around the world will know what she has kept private for so long… while holding me to a promise not to tattle.
Susan is one of those people who simply made the world a better place …by her presence in it. When I told her last night about how the community was sending their love and wishes, she asked ‘what did I do?’ she also never really grasped that her community stretched around the world. It was ‘simply Susan’ who was anything but simple… (her accomplishments of working with women’s groups in mental hospitals or her community activism to save them from the wrecking balls of corporate expansion, are seldom mentioned, overshadowed by her passion to find beauty and share it with others in her persona of a ‘junk-tycoon’).
She was someone who found joy in each day—and shared it with so many …in so many different ways. Susan is simply going to leave us all better for knowing her…being touched by her spirit.
At this point she would say: “Bobby, hey that’s enough!” I will listen to her…
