Susan Bunting - End of Life Care

Susan Bunting has been a beloved member of the community of Homer, Alaska for well over 40 years. She is an Audiologist and Speech Language Pathologist (owner of Hear-Say) who has helped countless families with children who have special needs and community members young and old with hearing difficulties. She was recently diagnosed with end-stage lung disease and a terminal autoimmune disease. Susan is in immediate need of help from the community to return to Homer for end of life care. ALL DONATIONS will go to end of life care, transportation back to Alaska, and related expenses. Please feel free to contact Melissa Malcolm, with any questions you may have, [phone redacted]. Melissa can also pass along messages to Susan and the boys.

In late Fall of 2022, Susan was diagnosed with lung disease and myositis, an autoimmune disease; she is now in the end stages of the disease and must be on constant oxygen to stay alive. Susan’s last wish is to return to Homer, where she will be surrounded by the community and people she loves, and to be able to die peacefully in her own home. She won’t be with us for much longer, so it’s extremely important that we get her back to Homer as soon as possible. There will be much planning and financial support necessary to make this last wish come true for her.

You may know Susan as a loving, kind, and generous person who has lived and worked in our community and across the state of Alaska for 40+ years. She started in the Arctic, served Southeast Alaska as a Regional Audiologist with Health and Social Services, and then moved to Homer to work in the schools and in private practice. She has been instrumental in creating programs around the state that support early intervention programs for children with special needs and expanding audiology support to adults and children. Her contributions expanded services in many communities throughout the state and the impact of her work will continue to be felt for years to come.

You might also know her through her work in the local schools, volunteering as her children went through Paul Banks Elementary all the way through graduation at Homer High School. She’s been involved with school events, Pier One Theater, free hearing exams and information at the Safe Kids Fair, birding groups, the Audubon Society, Homer Animal Shelter, Pratt Museum, protecting natural areas, and countless more volunteering endeavors.

She has helped many kids through the process of graduating from high school, applying for colleges and becoming the first in their families to attend college. This is a passion for her and she was in the midst of helping two Homer kids begin their dreams—flying them to Colorado and getting them setup in their dorms this past fall—when she suddenly became ill. Days after setting these kids up in college, she was hospitalized in Colorado with lung disease. Unable to breathe, she received treatment and surgery on her lungs.

Susan has now been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, myositis, which is making her muscles lose the ability to function, and waste away, causing pulmonary fibrosis. This is a progressive disease where the lungs slowly stop working, making it impossible to breathe. Susan has been on full-time oxygen since August and has increased difficulty breathing well enough to even complete small tasks.

When not hospitalized, Susan has been living with her son, Nolan, as he juggles caring for her and his busy schedule as a fourth year student in veterinary medicine at Colorado State University. Her other son, Landon, recently graduated from Oregon State University, with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and is now working on a research project at Hatfield Marine Science Center. He is looking for employment that will allow him to support his brother and mother through the final stages of her disease. Landon has been instrumental in managing the household for the family and has helped with all the issues that come with preparing for his mother’s end of life care and planning. 

The most important part of Susan’s life has been raising her two amazing sons as a single parent, working hard to be the best mother, teaching them to be intelligent, independent, hard-working young men, and instilling in them a love for lifelong learning and making the world a better place. They are a team of three, but the boys will lose their precious mother in just a short amount of time at the young ages of 23 and 25. Susan has never wanted to be a burden to her children; she has been successful raising her children on her single income, but she never had a large savings and now has financial needs that she can’t meet. She needs continuous medical care and returning home to be with family and friends will be expensive.

Homer is Susan’s home. It’s her last wish to be among the people who have been instrumental in allowing her to raise her boys in this amazing community. She hopes to have time to enjoy Alaska for the remainder of her life, where she will be surrounded by the community and people she loves, and to be able to die peacefully in her own home. She won’t be with us for much longer, so it’s extremely important that she has the financial support for her transport back to Alaska, continued medical needs, end of life care, and eventually funeral preparations/expenses. We all want Susan home so we can support her through these incredibly difficult times.

Susan has insurance to help with the extensive medical care, however there are still many medical bills and copays, travel expenses, preparing and altering her home for her return, including purchasing a generator for winter power outages (she will die without her oxygen machine being plugged into electricity at all times). Due to the damage to her lungs and her need for constant oxygen, Susan will never be able to fly again—making travel to Alaska extremely difficult and expensive.

Please consider helping, in any way that you can. Susan has touched so many lives and has been devoted not only to her children, but to many children and adults in our community. She has spent her life helping others and giving to the community. She is going to be missed by so many.